Yardie | |
---|---|
Directed by | Idris Elba |
Screenplay by | |
Based on | Yardie by Victor Headley |
Produced by |
|
Starring |
|
Cinematography | John Conroy |
Edited by | Justine Wright |
Music by | Dickon Hinchliffe |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | StudioCanal |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 101 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Box office | $1.5 million [1] |
Yardie is a 2018 British crime drama film directed by Idris Elba, in his feature directorial debut, and starring Aml Ameen, Shantol Jackson, Stephen Graham, Fraser James, Sheldon Shepherd, and Everaldo Creary. It is based on the novel of the same name by Jamaican-born writer Victor Headley. It was screened in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. [2]
Dennis "D" Campbell lives with his peace-loving brother Jerry Dread in 1973 West Kingston, Jamaica. D loves a local schoolgirl named Yvonne but their relationship is hindered by an ongoing gang war between the Tappas, led by Skeeter, and the Spicers, led by King Fox. Tired of the violence and destruction in the streets, Jerry Dread organises a DJ session between the two gangs' territories, hoping to broker peace. The peace is quickly shattered when Jerry Dread is shot and killed by Clancy Hibbert, one of D's classmates and an aspiring gang member.
In 1983, an adult D has become a hardened enforcer for Fox, who works as both a record producer and drug lord. After bungling one of Fox's drug deals due to his volatile behaviour, D is sent by Fox to Hackney, London where he must deliver a package of cocaine to White Jamaican gangster Rico Grimes.
D arrives in London but hesitates to make the delivery after hearing Rico flippantly insult his late brother. He flees from Rico's nightclub, taking the cocaine with him before reuniting with Yvonne. Yvonne had long fled to London with her and D's daughter Vanessa to escape the violence in Kingston; she does not welcome D's presence, but agrees to let him stay. While staying, D suspects Clancy, his brother's killer, is in London.
One day, a group of youths burgle Yvonne's flat while D is there, hoping to steal the cocaine he had stolen. After warning them off, D is directed by the youths to a potential buyer of the cocaine in the form of a Turkish crime lord. Using the money he has earned from the sale, D tries to provide Yvonne and Vanessa with the good life. He also uses the money to help the youths fix their sound system and eventually joins them for gigs.
Not long after, D is recognised and ambushed by Rico's men and Yvonne kicks him out after her daughter has been fake-kidnapped. D goes to Rico's nightclub to return the money and is only spared because of Fox's influence.
Directionless, D falls back to his last remaining objective: finding Clancy in hopes of avenging his brother. After being pointed in the right direction by Sticks, one of the DJs, D confronts Clancy at his home. He is then ambushed by Rico's lieutenants, resulting in Clancy's escape and Sticks' death.
Yvonne seeks out Clancy and learns that Fox has something to do with Jerry's death. That night, as D takes up Sticks' place in the DJ group for a concert at Rico's nightclub, Yvonne tells him what Clancy told her and begs him not to go, but is rebuffed. At the same time, Fox arrives in London to meet with Rico and pacify the situation. During the DJ session, Rico insults Fox and threatens to kill D himself, leading the latter to strangle him to death.
Fox later meets D in a hallway where he reassures D about what Clancy told him. Clancy then ambushes them both, claiming that Fox had hired him that fateful night, forcing D to kill him in self defense. An injured Fox inadvertently reveals his role in Jerry's death, causing D to question him. Fox reveals the truth: Jerry wasn't supposed to die that night, Skeeter was the target but Clancy missed and hit Jerry. Angered by the revelation, D kills Fox. The ghost of Jerry, having followed D's guilty conscience, fades away. In a flash forward leading to Fox's execution, D and Yvonne are shown happily together with their two children.
Several scenes, including high-paced car chases set in London, were filmed at the Chatham Historic Dockyard in Kent, doubling up for East London in the 1970s. The Dockyard also features as the wider area where Rico's (Stephen Graham) club is located and D. (Aml Ameen) is chased through the streets and over the roofs at night by Rico's men. [3]
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 54%, based on 76 reviews with an average rating of 5.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads "Yardie proves debuting director Idris Elba has a distinctive eye that benefits from a strong personal connection to his material, even if the end results are somewhat uneven." [4] Metacritic gives the film a weighted average score of 52 out of 100, based on 18 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [5]
New Rose Hotel is a 1998 American erotic science fiction drama film co-written and directed by Abel Ferrara and starring Christopher Walken, Willem Dafoe and Asia Argento. It is based on William Gibson's 1984 short story of the same name.
Yardie is a term often used, particularly within the Caribbean expatriate and Jamaican diaspora, to refer to people of Jamaican origin, though its exact meaning changes depending on context. The term is derived from the Jamaican patois for “home” or "yard". The term may have specifically originated from the crowded "government yards" of two-storey government-funded concrete homes found in Kingston and inhabited by poorer Jamaican residents, though "yard" can also refer to "home" or "turf" in general in Jamaican patois.
Clear and Present Danger is a 1994 American action thriller film directed by Phillip Noyce and based on Tom Clancy's 1989 novel of the same name. It is a sequel to The Hunt for Red October (1990) and Patriot Games (1992) and part of a series of films featuring Clancy's character Jack Ryan. It is the last film version of Clancy's novels to feature Harrison Ford as Ryan and James Earl Jones as Vice Admiral James Greer, as well as the final installment directed by Noyce.
A Man Apart is a 2003 American vigilante action thriller film directed by F. Gary Gray and co-produced by and starring Vin Diesel as Sean Vetter, an undercover DEA agent who is on a vendetta to take down a mysterious drug lord named Diablo after his wife is murdered. The film also stars Larenz Tate with Timothy Olyphant, Geno Silva, and Steve Eastin. Released by New Line Cinema in the United States on April 4, 2003, it received generally negative reviews from critics and performed poorly at the box office.
Club Dread is a 2004 comedy slasher film directed by Jay Chandrasekhar and written by and starring the comedy troupe Broken Lizard, Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, Erik Stolhanske, Brittany Daniel, and Bill Paxton. The film follows a group of staff members on a tropical island resort, where an unknown killer begins a murder spree.
Paid in Full is a 2002 American crime drama film directed by Charles Stone III. The characters Ace, Mitch, and Rico (Cam'ron), are fictionally based on the 1980s Harlem drug dealers Azie "AZ" Faison, Rich Porter, and Alpo Martinez. The title of the film is borrowed from the 1987 album and song by Eric B. & Rakim.
Aml Ameen is a British actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his roles as Trevor (Trife) in Kidulthood (2006), Malcolm Davies in Harry's Law, Lewis Hardy in the ITV television series The Bill, Capheus in the first season of the Netflix original series Sense8, and Alby in The Maze Runner (2014). His directorial debut was the 2021 romantic comedy Boxing Day.
Victor Headley is a Jamaican-born British author. He is the author of the bestselling novel Yardie (1992), which gained cult status upon publication and "heralded a new wave of black British pulp fiction". Other books by Headley include Excess (1993) Yush (1994), Fetish (1995), Here Comes the Bride (1997), Off Duty (2001) and Seven Seals (2003).
Piranha is a horror film series that consists of five films. The original film is a parody of the 1975 film Jaws.
Fright Night is a 2011 American supernatural horror comedy film directed by Craig Gillespie and produced by Michael De Luca and Alison Rosenzweig. A remake of Tom Holland's 1985 film, the film's screenplay was adapted by Marti Noxon. It stars Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, Toni Collette, Imogen Poots, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and David Tennant. The plot follows a teenaged boy who discovers that his neighbor is actually a vampire, which culminates in a battle between the two. The film held its world premiere at The O2 in London on August 14, 2011. It was released in the United States by Touchstone Pictures on August 19, 2011.
Pusher is a 2012 British crime thriller film directed by Luis Prieto. It is an English-language remake of Nicolas Winding Refn's 1996 film of the same name, the second remake following a 2010 Hindi remake. The film stars Richard Coyle, Agyness Deyn, Bronson Webb, and Paul Kaye.
Sleepless Night is a 2011 French-language action thriller film directed by Frédéric Jardin, who co-wrote the story with Nicolas Saada. The film stars Tomer Sisley, Adel Bencherif, Julien Boisselier, Serge Riaboukine and Pom Klementieff.
Yardie was the debut novel of Jamaican-born British writer Victor Headley, being described as "the publishing story of 1992" when it became the first title produced by Dotun Adebayo's newly established X Press.
The Price is a 2017 American drama film written and directed by Anthony Onah. The film stars Aml Ameen, Lucy Griffiths, Peter Vack, Michael Hyatt,Souléymane Sy Savané, Craig muMs Grant, and Bill Sage.
Dogman is a 2018 Italian crime drama film inspired by real events involving Er Canaro, and directed by Matteo Garrone. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. At Cannes, Marcello Fonte won the award for Best Actor. Although selected as the Italian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards, it was not nominated.
Crypto is a 2019 American crime drama thriller film about money laundering and cryptocurrency.
Inside Man: Most Wanted is a 2019 American crime thriller film directed by M. J. Bassett and starring Aml Ameen, Rhea Seehorn, and Roxanne McKee. A sequel to the 2006 film Inside Man, it was released direct-to-video in the United States on September 24, 2019. It was also released onto Netflix and other pay-on-demand digital platforms.
Till Death is a 2021 American thriller film directed by S.K. Dale in his directorial debut, from a screenplay by Jason Carvey. It stars Megan Fox, Callan Mulvey, Eoin Macken, Aml Ameen, and Jack Roth.
A Man in Full is an American streaming television drama limited series starring Jeff Daniels and Diane Lane, created by David E. Kelley, and directed by Regina King and Thomas Schlamme. The show is based on Tom Wolfe's novel of the same name. The series consists of six episodes and premiered on Netflix May 2, 2024.
Boxing Day is a 2021 British romantic-comedy Christmas film written, directed by and starring Aml Ameen in his directorial debut. The film also stars Aja Naomi King and is the acting debut of Leigh-Anne Pinnock. Notably, it is the first British Christmas romantic comedy with an almost entirely Black cast.