County Lines

Henry Blake's 2019 British film follows Tyler, fourteen, used to carry drugs. He is excluded at school, his mother works shifts and nobody notices; the man who picks him out makes him feel valued for the first time. Blake made the film after years working in youth services, and the detail comes from there: how a phone line operation works, why the boy does not run, at what point the family could not intervene. The story blames the child and offers no rescuer. Conrad Khan's performance carries it. The subject is heavy and the violence harsh. Who it's for: viewers interested in British social realist cinema and films about the exploitation of children. Who it's not for: anyone avoiding violent and drug-related content, or wanting an ending that resolves.