A prostitute and a young girl on the run, that's the basic set-up here. But who exactly are they running from and why? Well, these two things are explained rather quickly for us before details are revealed that start to make the whole thing more intriguing, complex and a little bit different from the gamut of British crime movies that we've seen since the turn of the century.<br /><br />I don't want to, even accidentally, reveal any more about the plot or details that add to the well-paced story so I will just compliment the acting, look of the movie and soundtrack before leaving you with some random thoughts on the essence of the film. Every part of this film oozes quality, the two main female leads are excellent and the males are more than just stereotypical tricks/pimps/gangsters/etc. The movie looks suitably "everyday" and yet not ugly despite the subject matter. And the soundtrack is superb, with a definite highlight being the use of "Moonlight Sonata" in a scene that will forever meld itself audio/visually in my memory thanks to the expert execution.<br /><br />Finally, I'd just like to add my general thoughts on the essence of the film and how it rises above it's individual scenes of bleakness and pain to become something rather . . . . hopeful. The whole movie comes together in a way that shows, to sound cheesy, that there is even light in the darkest of dark places. Even a muddy puddle will quench the thirst of the most desperate human. I don't want to sound pretentious or to seem as if I saw something that wasn't really there but that previous sentence just popped into my head immediately after viewing this film. And I hope you see what I did.<br /><br />See this if you like: Mona Lisa, Dead Man's Shoes, Nil By Mouth.