Atom Egoyan's regular DoP Paul Sarossy makes his directing debut with a gritty British thriller that eschews Lock, Stock's Mockney clichés.
Based on the book by Neil Cross, Mr In-Between is Jon (Andrew Howard), a hit-man who routinely tortures and murders for David Calder's tattooed gay gangster. Traumatised by nightmares, Jon's conscience is further pricked by a chance meeting with old friend Andy (Andrew Tiernan), who brings him home to meet wife Cathy (Geraldine O'Rawe) and their young daughter. Jon and Cathy soon become lovers, but he's powerless to stop her being dragged into his violent and savage world.
Working on a tight budget with little-known actors, Sarossy turns in an intense, reflective yarn with a troubled anti-hero cut from the same cloth as Jean Reno's Léon. Be warned, though: Peter Waddington's script sloshes with sadism and squalor, dealing in the kind of people you'd cross the street to avoid.
