Eleven : 14

Directed by Gurjant Singh

2022

New Lion Films

Eleven : 14 is a new thriller from West Midlands director Gurjant Singh and explores a period of time where bad things can happen to good people and perhaps vice versa too.

The film stars Wolverhampton actor Cory Mcclane who awakes to find himself strapped to a chair. Via a voiceover he is told that he needs to complete four tasks to save his family. The first one contained within an envelope tells him to go and get a bag, and although the challenge seems simple enough, has he overestimated his own competence too soon?

And so begins his dash to complete these tasks before 11:14 or unfortunate events will befall him. The ticking clock idea is great – putting pressure on the character and keeping the intensity up for the audience

And a rough film grain added to the visuals gives the short a Grindhouse sort of feel which keeps in line with the film’s dark thriller tone as well.

After collecting the aforementioned bag, the story sees him heading over to Wolverhampton Civic Centre (keeping it local – I like) where he also catches up with a friend who gives him a camera. But suddenly these smaller events lead to a discovery that a youngster has been kidnapped and he is to withdraw £1000 to help arrange the release.

Mcclane is great in the lead role, looking suitably concerned, confused and determined all at the right time and does a lot with the character's minimal dialogue.

In addition, the film’s time-limited structure (with the countdown intertitles adding to the intensity) helps keep the film flowing fast and the night-time scenes of our lead driving a car to his destinations are brilliantly shot.

The filmmaker Gurjant Singh, who previously directed Jallianwalla Bagh 1919 (our review) has come up with a great idea that has echoes of Crank, Run Lola Run and Die Hard with a Vengeance where a character has to complete tasks or something bad will happen to them or others.

More specifically, a low budget early-2000s film of the same name has a similar time-based narrative but focuses on a different set of events to get there.

The confident camera work and great acting is well done, although I thought some tweaking was needed on the sound. The voiceover could do with some further mixing and although the pumping score is intense, it’s a little overused and repetitive.

Without getting into spoilers, the film delivers a number of surprising ending moments where some tables are turned and the twisty plot explained to give context to the previous events of the night.

By the end, the film focuses mostly on one man’s determination to see his family saved and is anchored by a great central performance with solid turns from all the support cast too. Plenty of thrills are added also, which is helped along by the mission to complete each task in time or face possible repercussions. Eleven : 14 has some obvious parallels to other influences but mostly blends it well with a local flavour in a film that will satisfy fans of the gritty crime genre.

★★★★

Michael Sales