The one-location chamber piece can be a difficult trick to pull off, even more so with just one actor appearing on-screen. This is the challenge presented in the latest feature by Irish director Brendan Muldowney who has garnered acclaim for his ambitious storytelling. Set entirely within a London office suite, psychological drama One Last Deal follows a day in the life of foul-mouthed football agent Jimmy Banks (Danny Dyer), charting his ecstatic highs and lows as he tries to secure a lucrative contract for his top client whilst hoping to salvage his own somewhat disgraced reputation.
Such is the nature of narratives like this, the story is formed through the various phonecalls Jimmy has. Armed with a bluetooth headset and/or a dodgy burner phone for conversations with clients, his daughter, a lawyer, a sporting director amongst others, he charms, schmoozes, and barks expletives in true, enjoyable Danny Dyer fashion. A jazz-infused score from composer Stephen McKeon is effective in elevating tension in the right moments but the production design has a cheapness that devalues the authenticity it strives for; the framed photographs, certificates, and other props behind his desk and around the room serve as an almost constant visual backdrop but look as though they’ve been cobbled together by teenagers making a student film.
Since his lager-lout roles within the lad culture era of British cinema, we have seen Dyer evolve into a more nuanced actor in recent years with great turns in the likes of Rivals and Mr Bigstuff, the latter earning him a BAFTA award. As Jimmy Banks, he is a compelling, charismatic presence but he is dragged back in time by a distasteful script that uses a sexual assault case to explore the protagonist’s redemption arc. It’s a scarily topical plot device given the high-profile incidents in football of late, but it feels sorely mishandled here within the tone of the piece.
The strong solo performance from Danny Dyer makes Brendan Muldowney’s effort One Last Deal a worthwhile experience, though he is the star signing of the production and is let down by other players. He’s proven himself to be far more than the cockney geezer parts he was once associated with, but needs a better team around him to fulfil his true cinematic potential.
Cinema Perspective 