Wild Bill ****

Shot in the heartland of London 2012, actor-turned-director Dexter Fletcher’s new gritty Brit drama Wild Bill could be set anywhere, if it wasn’t for the occasional skyline prompt. But unlike the gloomy, award-winning Junkhearts that follows a similar ‘deprived London’ vein – and was released at the same time as Fletcher’s directorial debut at last year’s London Film Festival, Wild Bill has a more genuine heart to it for those of us who know the London Borough of Newham area, and it’s not obsessed with trying to hit rock bottom to provide grim reality portrayals. Wild Bill may well be guilty of depicting council-estate wows but it has a dry sense of humour bubbling through it that anyone with local knowledge will pick up on and relish, making it highly entertaining.

Out on parole after eight years inside ‘Wild’ Bill Hayward (Charlie Creed-Miles) returns home to find his now 11 and 15 year old sons, Jimmy and Dean – played by Sammy Williams and Son of Rambow’s Will Poulter – abandoned by their mother and fending for themselves. Unwilling to play Dad, an uncaring Bill is determined to move on. Although Dean has a labouring job on the Olympic site and is doing his best to be a father to his younger brother, the arrival of Bill has brought them to the attention of social services. With the danger of being put into care looming, Dean forces his feckless Dad to stay by threatening to grass him up for dealing. If there’s one thing Bill doesn’t want it’s to go back to prison. He reluctantly agrees to stay for a week to help fool social services that the boys are being cared for. Having never really grown up himself Bill quickly connects with Jimmy and through this new bond starts to realise what he’s been missing – he has a family and a place in the world. He is a father. However, their happy family set-up is short-lived when Jimmy gets into trouble dealing for Bill’s dangerous old cohorts. To sort it out would breach the terms of his license and risk sending him back to jail.

There is a commendable honesty and personal element to the way Fletcher has co-written and directed his new film that shines through, elevating it out of the humdrum, paint-by-numbers gangland estate piece. In fact, it’s more a story about strained family relationships set in hardship than the latter, with an intriguing all-male cast battling it out on screen. It does suffer from contrived banter at times, especially between the boys, but the performances are so earnest and convincing that this compensates for the latter.

Among the hustle and bustle of certain moments, the film has warm, lighter, reflective ones, with the icing on the top being Wild Bill’s rooftop heart-to-heart with his younger son, and one defining moment when a paper aeroplane is launched off the building edge that encapsulates all kinds of thoughts and emotions played out at that time in the film; it’s cinematically beautiful for such a debut piece.

Indeed, Creed-Miles could have his career-defining moment on his hands in this, moving effortlessly in character between hard man and doting dad to showcase his impressive acting skillset. As obvious as his character arc is, there is an enjoyable ‘coming of age’ and simultaneous healing process to witness, as the actor navigates through the highs and lows of the story.

Wild Bill succumbs to the odd, slightly incredible moment – and its trailer smacks of Guy Ritchie tones, but it wears its lion heart firmly on its sleeve with bouts of good humour and sense, making it impossible not to be drawn into its rugged charm. Fletcher also shows exciting promise behind the camera too – something to be further encouraged by going to see this.

By @FilmGazer