The gangster film with a near-perfect 93% Rotten Tomatoes rating was pulled from Vue cinemas in 2019, has been quietly made available to stream on BBC iPlayer
A “absolutely beautiful” feature film with a near-perfect 93% Rotten Tomatoes score, which faced a ban from certain UK cinemas previously, has quietly arrived on BBC iPlayer.
The critically praised film, written and directed by Rapman, starring Stephen Odubola (Boiling Point) and Khali Best (EastEnders), follows a gang feud that tears apart the deep-rooted friendship of a group of south London mates.
Blue Story follows Timmy, a shy teenager from Deptford who attends school in Peckham, where he meets Marco, a charismatic boy from the area. Though they come from opposing postcodes, the two develop a profound friendship.
Blue Story can now be watched on BBC iPlayer. One Rotten Tomatoes critic said: “Absolutely beautiful, need a sequel now.”
Another reviewer wrote: “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.”
Blue Story is now streaming on iPlayer(Image: IMDB)
An IMDB reviewer gave the film ten stars and noted: “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.”, reports the Express.
Blue Story was withdrawn from Vue cinemas in 2019 after a violent incident in Birmingham. This led Rapman, whose real name is Andrew Owubolu, to insist there was “no connection” between his film and what occurred.
Blue Story is available for streaming on the BBC
“They were just in a cinema apparently for Frozen [2] but then they pinned it on Blue Story,” he told BBC News.
“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 dismissed any implication the decision to pull Blue Story was racially driven, with a spokesperson telling the BBC: “No. Categorically not.”
A still from the film Blue Story(Image: PARAMOUNT FILMS)
The cinema chain explained the film had been removed following 25 distinct incidents reported by staff members involving customers watching or trying to watch the film, “either in screen, leaving the screening, heading into the screening, or purchasing tickets in the foyer”. The spokesperson confirmed that Vue had introduced a number of measures, including increased security and the scrapping of late-night showings, but “continued to see significant problems”.
Vue’s founder and chief executive Tim Richards challenged claims that those involved in disturbances at the cinema were attending screenings of Frozen 2 rather than Blue Story, dismissing such reports as “simply not true”.
He emphasised the company “do not condone any for of violence, abuse of our staff or customers or discrimination in any form”, while pointing out that he has “spent his career championing diversity in the industry”.