A successful construction manager's life is drastically changed by a series of phone calls while he drives.
High-concept but low-key, Locke may not be a wild ride but you won't be able to take your eyes off the road.
Thanks to a mesmerising performance from Tom Hardy (the only actor to appear on screen) and an impressive script from writer-director Steven Knight, the film generates far more tension and intrigue than you might expect.
There are films to see on huge screens, but this is one that almost cries out for a small cinema, surrounded by total blackness. It’s a daring experiment brilliantly executed, with Tom Hardy giving one of the performances of his career.
As engrossing as any thriller, this quietly shattering character study, like Locke himself, achieves exactly what it sets out to, with the minimum of fuss.
Stunt cinema done right.
It’s a simple, clever idea, brilliantly executed and anchored around a superb performance from a softly-spoken Hardy. Are the foundations of Locke’s life sound enough to survive the night, or will he be left with nothing?
At first I thought this might be a glorified radio play. Not a bit of it. You need to keep watching Hardy's face.
It is a clever device that doesn’t always work but it a terrific showcase for Hardy. His beautifully controlled performance captures all the turmoil of a man determined to do the right thing and only beginning to realise the sacrifice it demands.
Locke is a bold, evocative film, in which voices, intonations and noises off – and a terrific unseen supporting cast – build up a detailed picture of a world and a man's life, as elegantly and economically as the best radio play. In this case, a radio play with orange motorway glare and the occasional passing Eddie Stobart truck.
The film could easily have seemed static and claustrophobic. That it doesn't is due not only to the extraordinary gravitas and pathos Hardy brings to his role but to the unlikely lyricism with which Locke's fraught night-time motorway journey is shot.
Hardy gives a fine, naturalistic performance, but the journey isn’t much more than a radio play with flashing indicators.
Steven Knight
General release. Check local listings for show times.
Edinburgh Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Friday June 6, 2014, until Thursday June 12, 2014. More info: www.filmhousecinema.com