After collaborating on her English-language debut Dirty God a few years ago, director Sacha Polak has called upon actor Vicky Knight again to star in his latest feature and has loosely based the story on her lead’s own experience. A British-Dutch co-production, romantic drama Silver Haze follows young nurse Franky (Knight) who is restlessly seeking answers after a housefire left her with severe burns 15 years earlier. At the hospital where she works, she meets troubled teen Florence (Esmé Creed-Miles) who is recovering from a suicide attempt. Scarred both physically and psychologically by their pasts, the pair embark upon a relationship and help one another through their trauma.
Set across two working-class suburban towns, there’s a social realist tone to the work that will draw comparisons with the works of Ken Loach or perhaps Andrea Arnold. Looking to break free from the shackles of their suffering, Franky and Florence habitually smoke marijuana; this is where the film takes its name. These sequences of escapism are brilliant, cast in a hedonistic neon glow – a far cry from the bleak palette of miserabilism in their day-to-day lives. When they are brought back down to earth, they are faced with cruel adversity; an intense scene on the top deck of a bus is difficult to watch as they are assaulted by a group of thugs.
Knight is an untrained talent so her style has the raw authenticity and naturalism that you would associate with the early work of Shane Meadows. Creed-Miles is an exciting on-screen presence and very much has acting in her genes, the daughter of the great Samantha Morton and Charlie Creed-Miles. The turbulent nature of their bond drives the narrative, and it’s absorbing to see their performances twist and evolve throughout the piece. The film’s impact is dulled somewhat when the focus shifts from their relationship, and Polak bites off a little more than she can chew with her various subplots concerning autism, religion, illness, and a revenge thread that never feels wholly developed.
A kitchen-sink indie drama that spins a lot of thematic plates, director Sacha Polak cements leading actor Vicky Knight as her muse, shining a cinematic light on her harrowing but hopeful true story with Silver Haze as she navigates a path through extreme hardship.
Silver Haze – In cinemas 29th March
Cinema Perspective 