The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
    • Shows & On demand
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • Tumblr

  • RSS

CultureCinemaMovie reviews

Urban Hymn

Urban Hymn | Movie review
26 September 2016
Kim Varod
Kim Varod
Avatar
Kim Varod
26 September 2016

Movie and show review

Kim Varod

Urban Hymn

★★★★★

Release date

30th September 2016

Certificate

UPG121518 title=

Links

TwitterWebsite

 Urban Hymn is a new coming-of-age drama written by Nick Moorcroft and directed by Michael Caton-Jones, most known for The Jackal and City By The Sea. Having had its premiere at film festivals worldwide in 2015 – the Toronto International Film Festival among them – the film will now have its official UK debut in late September.

The film begins with a woman named Kate (Shirley Henderson) who, after having suffered a tremendous loss, decides to become a social worker for troubled youths. Jamie (Letitia Wright), an orphan that is consumed by her damaging friendship with Leanne (Isabella Laughland), is the one that Kate desperately seeks out to help. The pair have strenuous beginnings, but their mutual bereavement soon establishes a parent-child bond. The demure Jamie is speedily presented with opportunities she did not dare dream of, but which are guaranteed to bring forth a profitable future – much to Leanne’s resentment.

While the acting in Urban Hymn was perfectly balanced, the story, however, failed to give a markedly lasting impression. Henderson does a marvellous job at portraying the desolate wife and mother who had been withering like an abandoned flower on the windowsill of a London townhouse. Wright is adept at playing the timid, yet persevering teen, and her performance nicely contrasts with Laughland’s combative spirit. The characters of Kate’s disgruntled husband and the kind director of the choir Jamie joins were likewise satisfactory in their performances by Steven Mackintosh and Ian Hart, respectively.

Despite this, Urban Hymn is not a movie that is overly unique. The script mainly suffers by its predictability, which is upsetting, considering Moorcroft is capable of much better, as we have seen with 2010’s Burke & Hare. It seems as if it was influenced too greatly by films with the same thematics. As a story about social mobility, the movie does present its viewers with the sad truth of how choice and opportunity can drastically shape a person’s life.

★★★★★

Kim Varod

Urban Hymn is released in selected cinemas on 30th September 2016.

Watch the trailer for Urban Hymn here:

Related Itemsreview

More in Movie reviews

Jumanji: The Next Level

★★★★★
The editorial unit
Read More

Aquarela

★★★★★
Musanna Ahmed
Read More

Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles

★★★★★
Malin Hay
Read More

The Bikes of Wrath

★★★★★
Miranda Slade
Read More

Pink Wall

★★★★★
Grace Walsh
Read More

Sons of Denmark

★★★★★
Andrew Murray
Read More

The Cave

★★★★★
Mary-Catherine Harvey
Read More

Into the Mirror

Lora Maslenitsyna
Read More

The Wolf’s Call

★★★★★
Ghazaleh Golpira
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Movie and show review

Kim Varod

Urban Hymn

★★★★★

Release date

30th September 2016

Certificate

UPG121518 title=

Links

TwitterWebsite

Tickets

Theatre tickets

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Secret Cinema Presents Stranger Things: An uncanny, immersive delight
    Cinema
  • Three Sisters at the National Theatre
    Theatre
  • Pink Wall
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Five of the best Christmas afternoon teas in London
    Food & Drinks
  • The Duchess of Malfi at Almeida Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • “Sting always makes me want to choreograph”: An interview with ZooNation director Kate Prince
    Theatre
  • A Kind of People at the Royal Court Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • IT London in Mayfair: Authentic and refined Italian dishes in a swanky restaurant
    ★★★★★
    Food & Drinks
  • Thriller Live at Lyric Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Five of the best Christmas afternoon teas in London
    Food & Drinks
  • IT London in Mayfair: Authentic and refined Italian dishes in a swanky restaurant
    ★★★★★
    Food & Drinks
  • The Snow Queen at Park Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Three Sisters at the National Theatre
    Theatre
  • A Taste of Honey at Trafalgar Studios
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2018 FL Media Ltd

Kickboxer: Vengeance | Movie review
Free State of Jones | Movie review