Killing Boris Johnson
2023 · 24m · UK
Directed by Musa Alderson-Clarke
Tones: dark, provocative, tense
A grieving son whose mother died during COVID lockdowns becomes obsessed with the idea of assassinating Boris Johnson, blaming the Prime Minister's hypocrisy for her death — but what he actually needs is to talk to someone.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Title as genre misdirect — assassination thriller that's actually a grief drama. Twenty-four minutes, COVID lockdown subject, institutional betrayal. The conceit either holds or collapses depending on whether the misdirect feels earned. Alderson-Clarke's instincts are interesting.
Musa Alderson-Clarke uses a provocative thriller title as Trojan horse for a tender grief portrait — the genre misdirect works once but the film's actual interest is in the conversation the protagonist needs to have, not the assassination.
Alderson-Clarke weaponizes his title as a genre decoy — the film's real move is using the impossibility of violence as a container for grief that has nowhere legitimate to go.
Reviews
I think people go in expecting something, and I'd like them to leave having experienced something else.
Festivals
- Cannes Film Festival – La Cinef 2023