Kicks review

Two teenage girls let their obsession with a famous footballer spiral out of control...

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Mounting a subtle exploration of celeb-mad culture via an eerie coming-of-age tale, director Lindy Heymann’s microbudget debut sees a quiet, lonely 15-year-old blonde (Kerrie Hayes) bonding with a young wannabe WAG (Nichola Burley) over their obsession with a star Liverpool midfielder (Jamie Doyle).

When the girls’ decision to build a honeytrap goes sour, so does the movie: the script promptly reaches for a gun and blows its own brains out with a massively implausible genre shift.

But while this film of two halves throws away its early lead, A Single Man cinematographer Eduard Grau pulls off the frankly superhuman achievement of giving the Scouse scuzzscape an ominous, dreamlike vibe that really soaks into your skin.

Best reason to watch, though, is the equally ethereal performance of Liverpudlian newcomer Hayes. All naive, youthful beauty and unknowable melancholy, she could be something very special indeed.