Look to tha Light focuses on a young man named Eddie (Charlie Goddard) who has starry-eyed dreams of fame and fortune. He has already racked up thousands of followers on social media but he wants to be more than just insta-famous. He wants to be a TV star too, something that looks set to happen after he is chosen to be on the reality television show Love On The Rocks.
Look To The Light is based on a concept. Apparently there is a programme called Love Island which takes a couple of dozen young, attractive people and drops them on a sun drenched island. While there they do a variety of pointless tasks but the main aim is to get them paired off and film them getting intimate.
Look To The Light is based on this rather dubious idea of entertainment. The programme in this film is called Love On The Rocks and the putative contender is called Eddie Reynolds (Charlie Goddard). Eddie is a typical late teen/early twenties jack the lad; full of confidence, indestructible, and convinced that he’s god’s gift to women. At the start of the film it is January and Eddie is having a six month anniversary meal with his girlfriend, Lauren Kelly (Lily Blunsom-Washbrook). Having that combination of fitness, good looks, and confidence that some of us never managed he gets the bill and also the waitress’s phone number.
On the way home Eddie’s brother, Wesley (Cole Dilley), stops them. He is mad with excitement and saying that there are TV cameras at home and it looks like he’s been picked for “the programme”. It dawns on them that, if he is being recruited then he needs to be single and Lauren is unceremoniously pitched out of the car and made to walk home.
At home the shows presenter, Mickie Martell (Kele Le Roc), bounces in and Eddie’s family go mad with excitement. They are all assuming that Love On The Rocks is the gateway to fame and fortune. It is just unfortunate that Eddie has to be single. Eddie’s mum (Lucy Benjamin) is happy enough for Lauren to be given the elbow.
However, there’s more going on in Lauren’s life than anyone knows just at the moment…including Lauren! There follows a series of ups and downs, some more predictable than others. Family dynamics, criminal records, medical mishaps, all have their effects on everyone. There are arguments and fallings out. They rapidly go from being a family on top of the world to a family at each other’s throats. I’ll be honest, I had guessed the gist of the ending but not the fine details. As a result Look To The Light kept us guessing up to the end.
Directed by: Christopher Manoe
Starring: Lucy Benjamin, Sharon Duce, Charlie Goddard, Mark Moraghan, Renu Brindle, Rachel Muldoon, Jenny Coverack, Lily Blunsom-Washbrook, Jessica-Leigh Slatter, Marion Fagbemi
Screenplay by: Christopher Manoe
Production Design by: Jordan Lee Brailsford
Cinematography by: Samuel Hosier
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: 101 Films International
Release Date: June +2. 2024 (United Kingdom)
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