When you’ve lost, you’ve got nothing left to lose.
Logline
In a personal time of crisis, Romeo, who has never taken a risk in his life, finds his Juliet when he comes to her aid when she is being attacked by her violent boyfriend. In a frantic chase across London during Halloween, which takes in drug fuelled squat parties and the dispossessed, Romeo and Juliet flee for their lives, desperately hoping for a different fate from the original ‘star crossed lovers’.
Synopsis
Romeo, 30, an actuary who works for a pension company, visits his mother in hospital after she has had a stroke. Devastated by his mother’s condition, he sits in a park and sees a Polish woman being attacked by Christophe, her violent boyfriend, over a holdall that she carries. When Romeo comes to her aid, Christophe pulls out a knife. Romeo and the woman with the bag run for their lives, managing to escape by boarding a tube train.
On the train the woman reveals that her name is Julita, the Polish equivalent of Juliet, and that she needs somewhere to stay because she has no money and Christophe knows all her friends. Reluctantly, he invites her home, but at his flat, he realises he left his bag at the park and it has his address in it, which means Christophe knows where he lives.
Christophe batters the front door down and storms into the flat to discover that Romeo and Julita have gone. Realising that they’ve only just left, he scours the building and finds them in the car park of the block of flats, trying to flee in Romeo’s car. Running after them and firing his revolver, he attempts to kill them and get his holdall back, but they manage to escape.
Romeo wants to contact the authorities but Julita tells him that she is wanted by the police for a crime she declines to disclose. She also refuses to reveal the contents of her bag but she does let slip that her real name is Anna. After an argument, she leaves Romeo, but discovering he likes her more than he realised, he offers to help. Anna wants to find her friend Cristina, a drug dealer who can provide her with a fake passport so she can permanently escape Christophe.
They drive to Camden Town where they come across Alfie, a drug dealer who tells them that Cristina is dealing at a local nightclub. When they go to the club, Alfie calls Christophe to inform him where they are and what they are doing.
Anna discovers Cristina has left the club and has moved on to a large squat party. At the event, they become separated and Romeo meets a drug dealer who persuades him to take MDMA laced with Ketamine. Anna finds Romeo as high as a kite in the middle of the dance floor, but to her horror she sees that Christophe is in the room and is coming for them.
With great difficulty they push their way through the revellers and out of the squat party while being chased by Christophe. The couple run down the Camden canal and hide under a staircase that Christophe runs up. In their hiding place they hear glass being shattered, and on returning to Romeo’s car they discover that Christophe has broken in and taken Anna’s bag.
Anna drives at full speed to get to her house before Christophe does and hides under their bed, hoping to retrieve the bag when he falls asleep. Christophe returns home, puts the bag on the kitchen table and rings Anna. To his shock he hears her phone ringing upstairs. Taking out his knife he goes upstairs and searches for her. She escapes by jumping down to the garden and seeing the bag in the kitchen, grabs it and runs to the garden side door hotly pursued by onto the road. Driving his car, Romeo hits Christophe, knocking him to the ground. Anna jumps in and they drive away.
Seeing that Romeo is exhausted, she lets him sleep. With Cristina not answering her phone, they go to her house where they see Christophe arrive and enter. Knowing he is wanted for a violent assault, Anna calls the police who come and take him away. Cristina, not wanting to cross Christophe, refuses to help Anna get a fake passport using the contents of the bag as payment. Romeo is disgusted when he discovers that the holdall is full of drugs. During the ensuing row with Anna, he receives a call from the hospital informing him that his mother has died.
At the hospital, Anna comforts the grief stricken Romeo. Meanwhile, Christophe is released by the police and contacts Cristina who reveals the pair’s location. To deal with her ex-boyfriend, Anna offers to give herself up to the police, but not wanting her to suffer, Romeo offers the sanctuary of his mother’s holiday cottage.
When Romeo and Anna leave the hospital, Christophe follows them to the coast. They arrive at the cottage during a thunderstorm and Christophe decides to wait for the right moment to strike. In the morning, Romeo discovers she has flushed the drugs down the toilet. They eat a full English breakfast and have sex.
Romeo and Anna walk along a nearby beach when she spots Christophe coming for them. They flee but he ambushes them on a path leading away from seaside, and at gun point he takes them into the forest. He forces them to dig their own graves, but when he is about shoot Romeo, Anna distracts him and hits him with her shovel. Taking turns, they strike Christophe with their spades, who fires his gun, falls and cracks his head on a rock. Christophe is dead but Romeo has been shot in the chest. Anna calls for an ambulance and the operator advises her to keep Romeo awake by talking to him. As they wait for the paramedics, Anna describes to Romeo a beautiful vision of their future life together.
Comments
Not much happens before the…
Not much happens before the inciting incident but it doesn't have to. Romeo's manner and certain mystique draw us into the story. His backstory is kept a mystery that leaves us pondering and wanting to no more about his awkward visit to see his dying mother. The pace suddenly picks up with the argument between the Polish couple and this moves the story forward at breakneck speed until they find safety in the train. It's very engaging and down to earth in a way that we can easily relate to. A great excerpt.