Have you heard? Have you heard?
There are rumors running rampant.
Have you heard that there’s a murderer whose killing is undampened
By the increase in policemen
Or the neighborhood’s unease?
There’s a chance he could be anyone the average person sees.

No immunity for anyone
From danger or suspicion.
There’s a liar in our midst who lacks the basest inhibition.
Could be him. Could be her.
I won’t sleep until we know.
Though even when they’re caught, I fear the fear may not let go.
_______________________

Rating: TV-14 (equates to PG-13)

It’s no secret that I love musicals. I just said so in my last post. But that doesn’t mean I love all musicals by default; they have to earn it. An example of that love not coming easily is London Road, a 2015 drama based on a stage musical about the 2006 serial murders by the Suffolk Strangler, or rather about their impact on the surrounding Ipswich neighborhood. With the concept of a murder mystery musical and featuring actors like Olivia Coleman and Tom Hardy, I added the film to my Blindspot list with little other knowledge about it.

The locals of Ipswich were interviewed at the time about their fears and concerns about the murders, as were the sex workers being targeted by the killer, and the songs use this verbatim testimony as lyrics. Thus, all of the songs sound like real people speaking normally, complete with “um”s and “yeah”s and pauses that go with such realism. However, to make these interviews work as songs, there is quite a bit of repetition involved, hammering in less-than-eloquent points like “it’s ‘orrible, idn’t it, eh?” and “begonias and petunias and, um, impatiens and things.” Plus, this repetition is mostly done through talking along with the tune rather than actual singing, so if you thought Tom Hardy couldn’t sing, this won’t prove you wrong. The film’s cinematography tries to inject some visual interest into the musical numbers, but the lyric style largely yields rather dull songs that feel much longer than they are.

And yet I still rather appreciate London Road as an experiment, one that isn’t quite successful but still effective in its own way. It immortalizes these seemingly mundane conversations and frames them in a way that reflects how the community as a whole responds to tragedy, from doubt and fear to a desire for better things beyond. I probably wouldn’t listen to the songs on their own, but they often begin with that awkward talk-singing and actually do sound nice by the end as voices overlap amid violin or synthesizer. It’s highly unique, and I credit the inventiveness of the original play’s creators (Alecky Blythe and Adam Cork), as well as the producers of the film version for adapting a story Americans like me might not otherwise have been able to see on stage.

Rank: Honorable Mention

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