Second Coming **** (2014, Nadine Marshall, Idris Elba, Kai Francis Lewis) – Movie Review

There’s good acting everywhere in debut writer-director Debbie Tucker Green’s notable slice-of-life drama about the struggles of a lower middle-class black family living in south London.

Nadine Marshall is excellent as Jax, a counter worker at the benefits office, who turns out to be pregnant, causing much tension as she doesn’t want to have the baby or seem to know who the father is. There’s more than a hint that this might be an immaculate conception.

Idris Elba is powerful as her husband Mark, who works long, unsatisfying shifts on the railways. And Kai Francis Lewis is remarkable as their 11-year-old son JJ, who has the usual troubles with school and growing up.

Everything concerning the layer of miracle meaning implied by the title is mystifying. It would be better not there at all. But there it is. If the film therefore remains sometimes a little elusive, it always feels real and truthful, with its carefully etched backdrops and characters, and it packs a whole lot of punch. It’s not surprising that playwright Green writes very good dialogue, but she does.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Movie Review

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