London Unplugged

A portmanteau exploration of disparate characters scattered across London, many of whose lives intersect unpredictably, showing the complexities, contradictions and compromises of modern living in the city of London. The film focuses on female empowerment{{cite web|url=http://romanroadlondon.com/east-end-film-festival-2018-highlights/ |title=Highlights of East End Film Festival 2018 |work=romanroadlondon.com |date=12 April 2018 |access-date=15 April 2018}}

London Unplugged centres on an interlinking device of a real-life female athlete, Yourlance Richards, who runs from Stratford in East London all the way to Kew Gardens in West London, visiting many of the locations that feature in the individual segments, which are as follows:

1. "Dog Days"
2. "Felines"
3. "Club Drunk"
4. "Unchosen"
5. "Pictures"
6. "Little Sarah's Big Adventure"
7. "Mudan Blossoms"
8. "Shopping"
9. "The Door To"
10. "Kew Gardens"{{cite web|url=http://talkies.org.uk/event/london-unplugged/ |title=London Unplugged |work=talkies.org.uk |access-date=10 December 2018}}

The final segment is an adaptation of Virginia Woolf's short story "Kew Gardens".{{cite web|url=https://filmuforia.com/london-unplugged-2018/|title=London Unplugged (2018) ***|website=Filmuforia|date=14 January 2019|first=Meredith|last=Taylor|access-date=1 May 2025}}

During the making of the film, a number of interlinking devices were filmed and trialled by supervising director Nicholas Cohen, before settling on Yourlance Richard's run across London. These included: short documentaries about Londoners of different ages and backgrounds, a thread following the work of a London Hackney cab driver and a selection of London archive material set to music. Ultimately, the story of a female athlete running the length of London was felt to be the strongest metaphor for the universal struggle of London living, revealing the scale of the city to a pedestrian and examining the typical Londoner's need to escape from their familiar corner of the city, the common London life as a "postcode prisoner". Both Yourlance Richards herself and her run, proved popular with press and public.

{{castlist|

• Juliet Stevenson as Jayne
• Poppy Miller as Alice
• Imogen Stubbs as Isabella
• Ivanno Jeremiah as Carlton
• Ricky Nixon as Edward
• Bruce Payne as Nick
• Yourlance Bianca Richards as herself (runner)
• Anjana Vasan as Lucy
• Dimitra Barla as Layla
• Eve Pearce aa Mrs Rogers
• Natasha Wightman as Emma
• Simon Wilson as Simon
• Leo Wringer as Jonathan
• Vanessa Donovan as Sophie
• Polly Lister as Gemma
• Sam Helpenny as Gary
• Shaun Prendergast as Mr Bithem
• Stephen Cavanagh as Jonas Andersen
• Tuva Heger-Bratterud as Mysterious Beautiful Woman
• Melanie Gray as Miranda
• Christina Carty as Virginia Woolf

}}

The film was made by emerging London filmmakers in conjunction with community groups, such as Four Corners Film in Bethnal Green, the Refugee Journalism Project and the Migrant Resource Centre.{{cite web|url=https://togoout.uk/london/rich-mix-london/eeff-2018-london-unplugged?y32j76j152 |title=EEFF 2018: London Unplugged |work=togoout.uk |access-date=15 April 2018}}

The film premiered at the East End Film Festival in 2018. It opened in cinemas in January 2019. A screening at the Peckhamplex in London on 18 January 2019 was followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers. London Unplugged went on to have a limited theatrical release with Everyman Cinemas and the ICA Cinema until May 2019, selling out in advance at all Q&A screenings. The film also played regionally in cinemas in Broadstairs, Norwich and Orkney, among other places.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}

Ed Potton, who reviewed the film for The Times, awarded it 4 out of 5 stars and stated of the segments that "when they're good, though, they're really good", noting "Kew Gardens" and "Pictures" as especially distinctive, while "Shopping" "has a moving meeting between a young man and surprisingly reflective assistant in a Soho sex shop" adding that "taken as a whole this is a depiction of the capital that's harsh and humane, familiar and strange.{{cite web|url=https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/article/london-unplugged-review-lg3lrzqc6|title=London Unplugged review|last=Potton|first=Ed|date=18 January 2019|work=The Times|access-date=18 January 2019}} Victor Fraga of Dirty Movies gave the film 4 stars out of 5 and stated: "...the pieces are blended together seamlessly with the help of the running narrator, current and footage imagery of London and a very eclectic music score of dirty beats, electro-clash, Arabic strings, indie rock, opera and more. It works. This not a patchwork of random short films. It all gels together neatly. The films flow nicely, just like the River Thames. The outcome is a heartfelt, gentle and at times dour tribute to the razzmatazz of cultures, lifestyles and lonely existences in London."{{Cite web|url=https://www.dmovies.org/2019/01/12/london-unplugged/|first=Victor |last=Fraga|title=London Unplugged - film review|date=12 January 2019|website=DMovies|language=en-GB|access-date=28 January 2019}} The film was awarded 3 out of 5 stars by Neil Smith for Total Film. Smith noted that the film was variously romantic and stated that "Juliet Stevenson and Imogen Stubbs lend star power to other segments in a film whose components make for a diverting, if bitty, whole"..{{cite web|url=https://www.pressreader.com/australia/total-film/20180921/282428465104168 |first=Neil |last=Smith |title= London Unplugged |work=Total Film |date=21 September 2018 |access-date=16 November 2018}}

Maria Duarte and Alan Frank, who reviewed the film for Morning Star, gave the film 4 stars and stated that "there are effective contributions from such star names as Juliet Stevenson, Imogen Stubbs and Bruce Payne but, to the credit of all concerned on both sides of the camera, London Unplugged is ultimately led as much by its strong and involving story lines as by mere star contributions".{{cite web|url=https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/c/film-round-up-january-17-2019 |last1=Duarte|first1= Maria|last2=Frank|first2=Alan |title= Film round-up: January 17, 2019 |work=Morning Star |date=17 January 2019 |access-date=17 January 2019}} Cath Clarke, who reviewed the film for The Guardian, gave it 3 out of 5 stars and stated that the film "at its best shows diverse London as it’s rarely seen in the movies"{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jan/18/london-unplugged-review |first=Cath |last=Clarke |title= London Unplugged review – portraits of people at their most vulnerable |work=The Guardian |date=18 January 2019 |access-date=18 January 2019}} Sight & Sound reflected that the film was "cheerfully diverse" and that "a gratifying number of the tales are women led".

David Parkinson, of the Radio Times, commented that the film "has an energy that recalls the French New Wave gem, Paris Vu par... (1965), as the largely neophyte film-makers are prepared to take chances in exploring themes like gender, immigration, alienation, isolation and communication" in a 3-star review.{{Cite web|url=https://www.radiotimes.com/film/gzbq6r/london-unplugged/|first=David |last=Parkinson|title=London Unplugged – review {{!}} cast and crew, movie star rating and where to watch film on TV and online|website=Radio Times |language=en|access-date=28 January 2019}} Nikki Baughan, writing in The List, added: "[Y]et to Cohen belongs the film's greatest strength: an interlinking interview with a real-life female athlete, an immigrant herself, whose epic run from east to west links these stories together. Her experiences give a powerful sense of the city as both opportunity and oppressor, and underscore the film's authentic voice."{{Cite web|url=https://film.list.co.uk/article/106107-london-unplugged/|first=Nikki |last=Baughan|title=London Unplugged|date=14 January 2019|website=The List|language=en-GB|access-date=28 January 2019}} Ian Freer, who reviewed the film for Empire, described the film as a "mixed bag" but praised the "Shopping" segment, which he stated is "a well-played two-hander set in a Soho sex shop as Ricky Nixon’s punter gets a philosophy lesson from a butt-plug peddler (Bruce Payne)", and "The Door To" segment, which he regarded as "well-plotted, confidently shot and consistently intriguing",{{cite web|url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/london-unplugged/review/ |last=Freer |first=Ian |title= London Unplugged Review |work=Empire |date=22 January 2019 |access-date=22 January 2019}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{IMDb title|6051312|London Unplugged}}

Category:2018 films

Category:British drama films

Category:British anthology films

Category:Films based on short fiction

Category:Films set in London

Category:Films shot in England

Category:Films shot in London

Category:2010s English-language films

Category:2010s British films

Category:Films based on works by Virginia Woolf