2 Best Movies to Watch by Deka Walmsley

Sexual assault and trafficking are never easy to depict onscreen, especially when they’re based on true events, but Three Girls strikes a balance between realism and empathy. It’s gritty but never gratuitous, critical but never preachy. You can tell the cast and crew took their time to carefully tell this important tale, which continues to be overlooked by authorities in Manchester. As a result, Three Girls can be difficult and frustrating to sit through, but that only speaks to the quality of its acting and storytelling. Three Girls is a must-watch, but you’d be forgiven for not wanting to put it on a second time.

Genre: Crime, Drama

Actor: Ace Bhatti, Adam Karim, Adrian Harris, Amanda Hale, Antonio Aakeel, Bo Bragason, Brian Fletcher, Deka Walmsley, Ezra Faroque Khan, Jackie Clune, Jamie Ballard, Jason Hughes, Jay Sajjid, Jessica Fostekew, Jill Halfpenny, Jonas Khan, Katherine Pearce, Katy Carmichael, Kerrie Hayes, Lesley Sharp, Lisa Riley, Liv Hill, Maggie Service, Marc Danbury, Marc Geoffrey, Maxine Peake, Molly Windsor, Naomi Radcliffe, Nick Moss, Paul Hickey, Paul Kaye, Pearce Quigley, Peter Singh, Philip Hill-Pearson, Ria Zmitrowicz, Robert Gwilym, Ross Anderson, Rupert Procter, Salman Akhtar, Simon Cook, Simon Nagra, Steffan Rhodri, Tebraiz Shahzad, Tom Prior, Tristan Sturrock, Vincenzo Pellegrino, Vineeta Rishi, Waleed Akhtar, Wasim Zakir

Director: Philippa Lowthorpe

Rating: NR

Led by Rosy McEwen's commanding performance brimming with fear and self-loathing, Blue Jean pours all of the anguish and defiance felt by the LGBTQ+ community under Margaret Thatcher's administration into a single character. Writer-director Georgia Oakley keeps her plot light, but through conversations with other beautifully portrayed queer women (especially those played by Kerrie Hayes and Lucy Halliday), she piles on one conflicted emotion after another about what this lesbian woman's responsibility is toward herself and her community when they find themselves threatened. But even as the film takes a definite stance, it validates every response as authentic—borne out of a need to protect the people whom one loves.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Amy Booth-Steel, Aoife Kennan, Becky Lindsay, Deka Walmsley, Edmund Wiseman, Farrah Cave, Gavin Kitchen, Kate Soulsby, Kerrie Hayes, Lainey Shaw, Lucy Halliday, Lydia Page, Rosy McEwen, Scott Turnbull, Stacy Abalogun

Director: Georgia Oakley

2 Best Movies to Watch by Deka Walmsley

1. Three Girls, 2017

2. Blue Jean, 2023