When you watch a story unfold thats been written (or typed) by someone, and then performed on a location or a film set by actors playing pretend. One of two things can happen.

Either you feel zero and always remember that you are watching a work of fiction, or you are hammered by emotion (sometimes positive emotions, sometimes negative emotion like fear, nervousness, or dread) When a film makes you feel, that film maker and all the cast and crew of said project have done their job to perfection and they deserve all the praise in the world.

To kick off February:The Month of British Films, I mentally struggled to decide which film o watch first.Should it be this one, that one, one ive seen, one I havent.

Well in the end (or rather this beginning) I chose a film that just had a suitable running time. Plain and simple.I had an hour and a half spare before Annette gets home from so I chose a short film that I knew I needed to watch and decide whether it was too graphic for Annette to watch.

That film was Cherry Tree Lane.

Written and Directed by Paul Andrew Williams (London To Brighton, Song For Marion) Its a straight to the point film.

Clocking in at 74 minutes and telling the very lean story of a house invasion in London.

With minimal characters, and one single location (a house) this film pulls no punches at all.

Its brilliance is not only in what the characters talk about (the dialogue is brilliantly realistic  but also its brilliance is in what it doesn’t show on screen  that makes the film even more disturbing and realistic. Youll find no plot spoilers in this review but in the same way London to Brighton  scares you into thinking that you will be forced to see certain ‘scenarios’. Cherry Tree Lane pulls the same trick but to no less effect.

Is this film everyones ‘cup of tea’ Perhaps not. As I previously mentioned  the writer director of Cherry Tree Lane is Paul Andrew Williams whos latest film is A Song For Marion. You could not find two films the polar opposite of each other,but what does that prove. That Paul Andrew Williams is one hell of a writer/director.

For those who felt the power of London to Brighton, then check out Cherry Tree Lane.

Im glad I did but rest assured. As soon as Im finished writing this. Im putting the door chain on.