Dragonflies Only Live For 24 Hours (2018)

Two ambitious detectives stakeout a potential drug deal.

Review

An interesting take here from writer / director Richard Anthony Dunford (P.O.V). While the premise of the film is the stakeout itself, a great deal of the runtime is dedicated to flashbacks showing the viewer how the two detectives got to where they are right now.

It's an interesting story - and an unusual one for a British film. We won't put any spoilers here so we'll go light on the plot. The tale revolves around two uniform officers attempting to rise through the ranks to the force, sometimes through any means necessary.

Dunford does a good job on not only putting the story together - an intricately woven tale, but also some nice on point dialogue. With large chunks of the film at the stakeout, two men talking in a car can be pretty drab, but Dunford channels a good Guy Ritchie here, and it works. It's never dull, it's realistic, and unusually, it's not exposition heavy. That's saved for the flashbacks. And they're solid too.

The cast is pretty small, with the flashback sequences largely following only two events. Heading it up are  Karl Kennedy-Williams (Rise of the Footsoldier 3) and Judson Vaughan (White Powder) as the aforementioned detectives. The two of them have great onscreen chemistry, both in the action scenes, but more importantly, when sitting in a car together. The feeling that they've been there for each other is rife, but you can feel the strain in their relationship. Kennedy-Williams doesn't have a massive catalog to his name, but holds his own against the much more experienced Vaughan producing some wonderfully harrowing scenes.

The supporting cast are solid throughout, with a wonderfully batshit performance from Harriet Madeley (Waking David) and a heart-wrenching one from Bhasker Patel (Snowden).

All round it's a pretty riveting crime drama with great performances across the board. The writing keeps the film grounded, and the direction does it service. The story is excellently rounded with a good, satisfying ending.

And the dogging scene is great.