Charlotte (2024)
Best to go into this one not knowing much since it gets tricksy.
Ex-con Roy (Dean Kilbey), living in isolation under strict conditions which include no internet access or being anywhere near anyone under sixteen, is minding his own (dodgy) business when distressed schoolgirl Charlotte (Georgia Conlan), fleeing an unhappy home situation, drops in and more or less begs to be allowed to stay … which is so much Roy’s exact fantasy of what he’d most like to happen than even he can’t quite believe her story. In fragments, we see people who relate to the main characters in various ways and get a sense that there are bad things (including a sex trafficking ring) going down in this apparently quiet community. Charlotte is vulnerable and panicky with Roy, but we see another, tougher side to her in her interactions with wayward kid Chloe (Angel-May Webb) and the local mean girl/waspish sidekick team (Charlotte Monkhouse, Alexander Harriss).
As Roy and Charlotte play cat and/or mouse with each other, the film – directed by Conlan, who also co-wrote with Martin Hardwick – does something similar with the audience. Obviously, it goes into some very uncomfortable areas but with a certain amount of tact. Kilbey, also in Members Club, is good as an affable, cautious geezer with deep secrets and Conlan the director asks Conlan the actress to play a very wide range of emotions and effects in a standout performance. Judging from this, she’d be likely to get a BAFTA before her O levels.
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