The Score

Will Poulter and Johnny Flynn star in a boldly adventurous mix of crime drama and musical that doesn’t really work.

The Score is a very strange beast. That could be deduced from the very fact that it is being promoted as a crime musical. But, even if it did not feature songs composed by one of its leading actors, Johnny Flynn, it would still be an oddity because this is a story about people waiting. It features two criminals, minor figures who hope to get into the big time and who for most of the film’s length sit in a remote roadside café where a deal with established professionals is due to take place once they turn up. That could be the start of a standard thriller, but the fact that the contact with them is delayed for hours and hours means that this is a crime story in which there is no action until the film’s last quarter of an hour.

This unusual storyline has prompted comparisons with Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot, but that belongs to such a different world that it seems irrelevant. On the other hand, the talk between the two men, Mike played by Flynn and Troy played by Will Poulter, does carry echoes of other works. It is characteristic of the film that Troy, the younger man, discusses early on the various meanings of the word ‘score’. Because this is not the kind of chat that you would expect from such men, one is reminded of the impact made by Quentin Tarantino when he first used the notion of featuring off-beat conversations between criminals before they indulge in brutal acts. But perhaps even closer to home is another stage play, one not by Beckett but by Harold Pinter. His highly individual use of language featured in a work about assassins waiting around while on a mission, that being The Dumb Waiter written in 1960.

But, in fact, while the development of the crime drama is put on hold, The Score, does offer something else since it becomes a love story. This happens because of the quickly deepening rapport between Troy and the woman, Gloria (Naomi Ackie), who runs the café. Troy is with Mike due to the fact that he is helping him in place of his older brother who had been Mike’s partner until he ended up in jail. Consequently, Troy is not yet a fully-fledged criminal but is sufficiently caught up in that world for it to threaten any future that he may have with Gloria. Here, too, echoes are to be found – in this case it’s a film that one thinks of, Nicholas Ray’s memorable debut They Live By Night (1948).

These possible influences do render The Score an intriguing piece and it has other virtues too. It is technically adroit with good editing and photography and its writer/director, Malachi Smyth, offers a first feature that feels assured even if some split-screen images featured in a couple of sequences seem rather self-conscious.  Best of all, there are strong performances. Will Poulter, who has progressed so well from his days as a child actor becoming a thoroughly capable adult actor in the process, is the pivotal figure: he is suitably compelling while also proving rather unexpectedly that he can sing. If the role of Gloria is less individual in the writing compared to the two men, the upcoming Naomi Ackie nevertheless brings real presence to it – and she sings too.

Ultimately though, the number of songs threaded through the film does mean that one has to ask how successful The Score is in seeking to turn its story into a dramatic musical. Although lovers of Flynn 's work as a composer may be won over, I feel that the songs are not strong enough to impress that much on a first hearing and Smyth’s approach in his treatment of them is inconsistent. He understandably holds back from going the whole hog – unlike The Umbrellas of Cherbourg this is not a dramatic tale in which every word is sung. Instead, we have musical numbers at relatively frequent intervals, sometimes with the players shown singing unaccompanied while at other times they are given an orchestra on the soundtrack. The songs may be linked to the story and to the emotions of the characters despite having been composed originally for an album, but they don't feel natural in this context and only the duets that bring Troy and Gloria together are effective in adding to the emotional force of the material. For all the good things in The Score which most certainly keep it from being boring, this has to be regarded as a daring venture that has not really come off.

MANSEL STIMPSON

Cast: Will Poulter, Naomi Ackie, Johnny Flynn, Lydia Wilson, Lucian Msamati, Roger Ashton-Griffiths,  Orla Coverley, Louis Vause, Song-Hung Chang, Phillips Flynn, Lillie Flynn.

Dir Malachi Smyth, Pro Ben Pullen and Matthew James Wilkinson, Screenplay Malachi Smyth, Ph Darran Bragg, Pro Des Paul Cripps, Ed Sad Nazari, Music (Songs) Johnny Flynn, Costumes Holly Smart.

Sentinel Entertainment Ltd./Stigma Films/Trigger Films/West End Films/Pont Neuf Films-Republic Films.
100 mins. UK. 2021. US Rel: 3 June 2022. UK Rel: 9 September 2022. Cert. 15.