Steven Knight
Locke

A night-time car journey, the desire to do the "right thing," and a life that is turned completely upside down in less than two hours. This is "Locke."

This film is an experiment, something that few could have conceived and even fewer people would have deemed valid. And it is with extreme pleasure that I say that this experiment is, in the opinion of the writer, perfectly successful. What is the peculiarity of Locke? The peculiarity of Locke is that the entire film takes place in a car with only one actor. Yes, that's right, you read correctly. The cast consists of just one actor, who interacts with some characters via phone (we will only hear the voices, but we will never see them). And the actor is none other than a giant of modern cinema, Tom Hardy. With this film begins the partnership between Tom Hardy and director Steven Knight, as the latter will recruit him for the TV series Peaky Blinders (highly recommended) and Taboo. Hardy's performance is extraordinary...he manages to hold the screen alone with remarkable skill and naturalness, and visually the film is really beautiful to watch. Even though the "location" of the film is the interior of a car, everything is enhanced by light and reflection effects that make it very evocative to the eyes. But the greatest merit of this film is that, surprisingly, it NEVER bores. It keeps the viewer glued to the screen for about one hour and twenty minutes, watching a man who wants at all costs to make amends for what is probably the only mistake he ever made in his life, even knowing that he would lose what are the pillars of his life. The desire for redemption towards the father (whom the protagonist hates and to whom he speaks as if someone were sitting in the back seat), the desire to be a good person and a good father, push an extremely cautious, calculating, precise, and meticulous man to allow his life to completely overturn in the span of one night.

This review will be brief because I don't want to ruin the experience for you. The less you know, the better. Locke won't be a film for everyone, but deep down there's an Ivan Locke in each of us.