Kicks

Nicole (Kerrie Hayes) is an introverted Liverpudlian teenager, all but deserted by her parents, with a mother distractedly working nights and a father who has settled with a new family elsewhere. She spends time hanging around the gates of Anfield and the Melwood training ground, desperate for a glimpse of her idol, the star midfielder Lee Cassidy (Jamie Doyle). She meets aspirant WAG Jasmine (Nichola Burley), who is from an affluent family, more glamorous and streetwise, yet the girls’ shared adoration for Cassidy lead them to bond instantly. They trawl the city and its nightspots, fantasising about a time when they might have Lee for themselves, yet when the news breaks that the footballer is a transfer target for Real Madrid, they take drastic action to prevent him leaving. One of the Digital Departures projects which were developed as part of Liverpool’s tenure as European Capital of Culture, and loosely adapted from an unrealised screenplay by Michael Winterbottom collaborator Laurence Coriat, Kicks is a markedly assured feature debut from Lindy Heymann, an intelligent and witty comment on modern celebrity culture with outstanding, contrasting performances from Hayes and Burley at its core. —BFI