(spoiler free)
Finding the perfect outfit is an art that can be hard to master. But if you do manage it, there’s a certain power that comes with this accomplishment. That feeling when a new addition to your wardrobe fits just right is hard to match. The subsequent boost to your confidence that accompanies this is something that stays with you, as if this new garment has become a suit of amour. It shouldn’t be understated then just how important clothing can be in facilitating true self-expression, and in writer/director Dionne Edwards’ Pretty Red Dress – her feature debut – it’s this that she purposely explores.
Travis (Natey Jones) is fresh out of prison and returning to his South London family home. There waiting for him is his partner Candice (Alexandra Burke) and their daughter Kenisha (Themilola Olantunbosun). Candice is working in a supermarket but chasing dreams of performing. With an upcoming audition to play Tina Turner on stage, she spies the perfect outfit – the titular pretty red dress – which Travis secretly buys for her. However, it’s not just Candice who has eyes for it, as Travis can’t help but succumb to its beauty either.
Edwards too clothes her narrative in this dress, using it to tease out her characters’ stories. Whilst Candice wears it with the hope of helping her case in seeking the approval of her casting directors, Travis instead uses it in search of his own self-validation. It’s the same dress, but one that provokes a very different reaction depending on who’s wearing it. Candice wears it to help her become someone else; being praised for it in the process, but when Travis wears it to reveal more of himself; he’s met with outrage and confusion. Through the couple’s joint experience of the dress, Edwards is able to confidently confront accepted norms of gender expression and enlighten them with a fluidity that many will be unaccustomed to.
Tasked with navigating this important narrative are her cast, which consists mainly of relative newcomers to feature filmmaking. As Travis, Natey Jones gives a suitably subdued performance, taking him on a tender journey of self-expression. He manages to convey the multifaceted nature of Travis convincingly; his stereotypically masculine energy is full of simulated strength and uncontrolled anger, whereas his freedom in liberating himself from these conventions is tentative and gentle. It’s this clash that causes so much upset, and why the film is so admirable in its attempts to showcase how two polar opposites can be simultaneously true of one person.
Alongside Jones, is X-Factor winner Alexandra Burke, who makes her screen debut as Candice. And whilst cynical assumptions may well be made of the reality TV star’s casting here, she proves that they’d be premature and unfounded, as she’s fantastic. As expected, she excels in the performance sequences. Watching her deliver these Tina Turner classics is an absolute delight, easily making these musical interludes some of the film’s most enjoyable moments. Yet, she’s just as captivating when she’s not singing, demonstrating that her voice isn’t the sole reason she’s here. This may be Travis’ story, but it’s Burke’s film.
Themilola Olantunbosun, also making her debut, holds her own too though. Starring as Travis and Candice’s daughter Kenisha, she impressively carves out space for herself with the help of Edwards’ writing, making her a character of her own, rather than just a plot device. She completes the trio of central performances that ensure Pretty Red Dress has a cast that’s able to slip into their characters with ease, shining both as individuals and as an ensemble.
Yet, with three, admittedly interconnected stories to tell, Edwards’ level of ambition isn’t always quite met by her execution. With some pacing issues and a few more questionable moments in her plot, the film’s important exploration can feel a little incomplete, or perhaps could be accused of precipitously arriving at its end.
It’s clear then that the film will benefit greatly from an appropriately fluid response from audiences, as the subjects it deals with are, in reality, rarely linear. Nonetheless, the film thoughtfully represents the ever-changing nature of self-expression and how family can play a pivotal role in this. While Edwards herself demonstrates great vigour for telling stories that unwaveringly look conformity directly in the eye. This alone is a rousing thought, but when woven into the very fabric of something as alluring, albeit flawed, as Pretty Red Dress, becomes the fashionable film that should be setting today’s cinematic trends.
Written by Hamish Calvert
★★★
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Thanks to Queen’s Film Theatre for screening access
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