Cinema can often provide a sense of escapism from our day-to-day lives but it can also hold a mirror up to our society – this is the case for the vividly authentic stories told by director Clio Barnard. Her latest piece is drama I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning, an adaptation of Keiran Goddard’s acclaimed book of the same name. The plot follows best friends Patrick (Anthony Boyle), Shiv (Lola Petticrew), Rian (Joe Cole), Conor (Daryl McCormack) and Oli (Jay Lycurgo) who grew up together on the streets of Birmingham and are encountering mixed fortunes in their thirties. Amidst the UK’s housing crisis, they each face their own troubles and a shocking revelation threatens to tear them down.
Beginning with a drug-fuelled party sequence as they celebrate Oli’s birthday, we see the gang perform a raucous rendition of a song by The Streets, a beloved Brummie outfit that features a few times on the film’s excellent, tailormade soundtrack. This infectious opening act gives an instant feel for the close-knit dynamic of the protagonists and their fashion, all polo shirts and skinny jeans, sets the millennial tone. A high-rise building in the community was demolished a few years prior, and becomes symbolic of the material’s timely themes around a community neglected by an unfair system. Food delivery biker Patrick voices his opinions on social justice with a fierce passion, Rian attempts to reconcile his own personal wealth with not letting go of his roots, while Oli provides comic relief as an outspoken but open-hearted rogue trying to make ends meet his own way.
The script comes from Irish playwright Enda Walsh and we see his narrative shift between individuals as they battle contemporary demons. Whether it’s the weight of parenthood, money worries, or mental health struggles, their visceral issues feel relatable because of the realism in the writing. The complex roles are tenderly drawn like flawed characters from your local pub and the storytelling presents itself like a collection of short stories, bound together by the glue of shared cultural experience but each carrying their own emotional gutpunch.
To land one or two of these actors for a film like this would be impressive, but to get this ensemble together is a masterstroke of the great Shaheen Baig’s casting. It’s like the Avengers of exciting British and Irish talent and they’re all on top form. Given the city it’s based in, it’s no surprise to find Peaky Blinders alumni in the cast – Cole, McCormack, and Lycurgo have all donned the bladed caps in the lauded series and now reprise the brogue for these nuanced Midlands portrayals. Petticrew and Boyle brilliantly play a married couple that were once teen sweethearts and although they appear to be the most put-together of the group initially, they deal with their own frustrations as repressed feelings are revisited.
Like life itself, there’s humour to offset the hardship and Keiran Goddard’s novel with Walsh’s screenplay is a wonderful fit for Clio Barnard’s hard-hitting but hopeful social-realist style. Her important directorial voice has been significant to working-class British cinema for over a decade now, but I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning is her best work to date, so it could and should go a long way to amplify that.
