Tom Hardy is only onscreen for a single scene in London Road – though he proves once and for all that he’s a master vocal manipulator.
If you are already familiar with the National Theatre's production of this unusual musical, then you won't be too surprised when a bunch of humble Ipswich residents start singing – sort of – about the travails of living in the midst of a serial killer. For everyone else, this adaptation of Alecky Blythe and Adam Cork's "verbatim musical" (based on the actual testimonies of neighbours to the 2006 "Suffolk Strangler") may cause a few cases of cinematic whiplash. Think Sweeney Todd meets the Red Riding trilogy.
Either way, once Rufus Norris's film gets going, it quickly reveals itself as a vibrant, almost revolutionary work. Shame, though, that Tom Hardy is only onscreen for a single scene – though his intentionally nerve-racked warbles prove once and for all that he's a master vocal manipulator. Equally unfortunate: The fact it took more than a year for this curiosity to make its way to theatres after screening at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.
Barry Hertz