A kebab shop owner’s son, Salah, turns vigilante after his father’s death in an effort to clean up the relentless onslaught of boozed up thrill seekers waging war on his doorstep.
K-Shop is a critical journey into the dark underbelly of the British binge drinking culture and the gory ramifications of inebriated actions. The film is extremely gritty, bare and brutal. I was expecting more of a B-grade title but was actually pleasantly surprised. It's awesome. The editing is exceptional and cinematography and score work all too well. The Lead actor, Ziad Abaza, is genuine and extraordinarily talented.It is a dark, disparaging, downward spiral that takes a sudden twist away from its Sweeny Todd-esque theme about halfway through the film. There is a very nihilistic undertone that meanders its way into the core themes of the film which, when mixed with the vigilante subplot, gives it a similar vibe to Taxi Driver.
The film also makes use of the colorization techniques that are so popular these days, but instead of highlighting the reds or adding some heavy saturation, the colours seem a lot more faded; they are old, dirty and washed out hues. This adds a very dreary, depressing feel to the film. While I am all for the macabre and the somber, I’m not a fan of the drawn-out, which makes my only real critique of the film its runtime – roughly two hours. I'm usually all for the longer movies, but this could probably have been wrapped up in a good one hour twenty. I understand that writer/director Dan Pringle was probably wanted his completed vision presented in all it's gloomy glory, but there was a lot that seemed unnecessary, like the lackluster love-interest that goes nowhere.
Overall though, a very solid film worthy of praise. It is not as much a horror flick as it is a poorly disguised social commentary, but it is done well enough. Not something you'd want as a date movie, but definitely something worth taking the time to watch.
