Review by Justin Bateman
Stars Ralph Brown, Rafe Spall, Clint Dyer, Anjela Lauren Smith
Produced by Clint Dyer, Rezmin Saberi, Oliver Ledwith, Robin Mahoney,Robert Heath and Jono Smith
Written by Barrie Keeffe
Certification UK 15
Runtime 91 minutes
Directed by Robert Heath
It is election night, 1979, and amid a climate of racial tension in London, Leon Delroy (Dyer) is arrested on ‘sus’ – suspicion of a crime. Only after a brief conversation do Detectives Karn (Brown) and Wilby (Spall) reveal that his wife has been savagely killed in their flat.
Based on Barrie Keeffe’s own play of the same name, Sus is perhaps necessarily stagey, being essentially a three-hander set in one location. However, it is no less powerful for it. The institutionalised racism of the policemen seems obscenely over the top but at the same time wholly and terrifyingly believable.
As the night progresses, the tension mounts thanks to a script crackling with black humour and hate. The performances of Spall and Brown are spot on, disturbingly sadistic as the right-wing cops bent on not only convicting Dyer’s bereaved widower but also delighting in the discomfort and anguish they cause him during questioning. Director Robert Heath keeps things interesting visually by using a combination of different focus techniques, low camera angles to increase the menace of the cockney coppers and stark lighting in the unforgiving setting of questioning room.
Clint Dyer is excellent and shows terrific range, eliciting sympathy and empathy from the audience with the grave injustice of not only this particular situation but also the political and social climate of the era. Horrific and emotionally gruelling Sus may be, but it’s also a gripping and superb piece of writing and film-making. Worth seeking out.