‘Absolutely beautiful’ gangster film was‘banned’ but now on BBC iPlayer | Films | Entertainment

An “absolutely beautiful” feature film with an almost perfect 93% Rotten Tomatoes score, that was previously banned from some UK cinemas, has been quietly added to BBC iPlayer.

The award-winning film, written and directed by Rapman, starring Stephen Odubola (Boiling Point), and Khali Best (East Enders), followed a gang war that dooms the lifelong bond of south London friends.

Blue Story follows Timmy, a shy boy from Deptford who commutes to school in Peckham. Here, he meets Marco, a charismatic local, whom he forms a tight friendship with. The two become inseparable in spite of their warring neighbourhoods.

Blue Story is now available to stream on BBC iPlayer. One Rotten Tomatoes Reviewer wrote: “Absolutely beautiful, need a sequel now.”

One critic said: “It’s brutal, raw, and often hard to watch – and hard to understand at times. However, it is striking and will stay with you well after you watch it. The storytelling, with narrative hip hop interludes from Rapman is totally unique and fresh.”

One IMDB reviewer gave the film ten stars and said: “It’s the best film I’ve seen in a long time and I have watched A LOT of films recently. The film is accessible, whilst it focuses on gang violence it essentially focuses on a friendship and the relationship between one of those friends and his girlfriend. I found the film very moving. Rapman is unbelievably talented. The acting was amazing, the entire film was engaging from the very start to the very end. I will be telling everyone to watch this movie.”

Blue Story was banned from Vue cinemas in 2019 following a brawl at their Birmingham location.This prompted Rapman, also known as Andrew Owubolu, to insist there was “no connection” between his movie and the fight.

“They were just in a cinema apparently for Frozen [2] but then they pinned it on Blue Story,” he told BBC News.

He added: “And then you start thinking, is there hidden reasons there? Is there a colour thing? You start thinking of all these things, and it was an upsetting time.”

Vue denied the decision to pull Blue Story was in any way based on race, with a spokesperson telling the BBC: “No. Categorically not.”

They said the movie had been banned from their cinemas after 25 incidents reported by staff concerning people watching or attempting to watch the film, “either in screen, leaving the screening, heading into the screening, or purchasing tickets in the foyer”.

The spokesperson said Vue had put a range of measures in place, including increased security and cancelling late-night showings, but “continued to see significant problems”.

Vue’s founder and chief executive Tim Richards said reports those involved in incidents at the cinema were there to see Frozen 2 — and not Blue Story — were “simply not true”.

He emphasised that the company “do not condone any for of violence, abuse of our staff or customers or discrimination in any form”, adding that he has “spent his career championing diversity in the industry”.