Kinky Boots

Seasoned TV director Julian Jarrold hits the big screen in style with this fantastic Britflick. Hailed as the new Full Monty and in the same vein as Calendar Girls (both written by Tim Firth), Kinky Boots is a fabulous against the odds feel-good film, inspired by the true story of a traditional English men’s footwear factory in Northamptonshire which turned to production of kinky boots for transvestites in order to save the ailing family business and safeguard the jobs of the local community. Charlie (Joel Edgerton) takes over the family’s shoe factory after his father dies. Faced with closure, he makes staff redundancies and it seems all hope is lost until a chance meeting in London with a drag queen called Lola changes everything...

Littered with fantastic one-liners, this is a film that makes you laugh out loud, but also cry in equal measure as it glides between hilarious and moving. It has its fair share of song and dance and some brilliant cabaret scenes. Chiwetel Ejiofor puts in the absolute performance of a lifetime as Lola and really should get some kind of recognition and the rest of the cast are also great. He deserves praise just for his skill of being able to glide in stilettos. I don’t think it would be too far a stretch to imagine an Oscar nod heading his way. Even though Lola’s character is well developed and his personal demons and depths explored, it is not at the expense of the others who are also very three-dimensional.

A fantastic film about life sometimes dealing a very crappy hand but dealing with it, facing up to responsibilities and not just taking the easy way out. This is an instant quirky classic and is perfect if you’re looking for 90 minutes of escapism that you will leave without dry eyes and a sense of elation.

Elle Downville