Ava DuVernay’s distribution company ARRAY has a new acquisition from across the pond. “Honeytrap” marks the feature debut of Brit writer-director Rebecca Johnson. The film was critically acclaimed upon its release in the UK, with reviewers praising the fresh, distinctly female perspective of the rite-of-passage tale.
The film is set in Brixton, South London and follows 15-year-old Layla (Jessica Sula, “Skins”) who has just moved to the area from Trinidad to live with her estranged mother (Danielle Vitalis, “Attack the Block”). Layla, an outsider, soon learns that in order to fit in with the other kids she has to play what turns out to be an all-too-dangerous game. Dumped by Troy (Lucien Laviscount, “Scream Queens”), Layla turns on her best friend Shaun (Ntonga Mwanza, “Leave to Remain”) in order to win her boyfriend back, leading the unwitting Shaun into a deadly trap.
We’ve seen this kind of coming-of-age crime drama set on London streets before — TV series “Top Boy,” which was set in Hackney, East London being a recent success story — but it is “Honeytrap’s” female protagonist, and lead Sula’s star-making performance, which give the film a truly original edge.
“Honeytrap” received its American premiere at the Urbanworld Film Festival in New York in 2015. The film is a great fit for ARRAY, who dedicate themselves to spotlighting the work of women and people of color in the independent film world.
“Director Rebecca Johnson has crafted a bewitching tale from a young woman’s perspective with a cast of fresh new talent,” said ARRAY’s Executive Director Tilane Jones. “We’re excited to introduce ‘Honeytrap’ to its US audience with this captivating voice in filmmaking.”
“I wanted to tell the story of a girl who acted as a ‘honeytrap’ without exploiting her for sensationalist effect,” Johnson told Women and Hollywood. “I wanted to make you see the world through her eyes.” She explained, “The biggest overall challenge for me was to deliver on my intention: to do the story justice and to make a film where I succeeded in taking the audience on a journey with Layla, the main character, so that they were unable to distance themselves from her even as she descended into darker and darker moral territory.”
“Honeytrap” will have a theatrical run in the U.S., but a release date hasn’t been announced yet.
