Locke (2013)
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A construction foreman navigates a series of life-altering phone calls while driving to a hospital during a high-stakes work deadline.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Construction foreman Ivan Locke is tasked with supervising the largest non-nuclear concrete pour in European history in Birmingham. However, he learns that Bethan, a colleague with whom he cheated, is in premature labor in London. Driven by a desire not to repeat his father's abandonment of his family, Locke drives to London while managing 36 phone calls. He is fired by his boss Gareth, banned from his home by his wife Katrina after confessing his infidelity, and pressured by his sons to return home. He coaches his trainee Donal through work issues and has imaginary conversations with his deceased father, whom he sees as a passenger. Despite the chaos, he manages to reach the hospital, where Bethan calls him to share the sound of their baby after a successful delivery.
- First release year
- 2013
- Runtime (minutes)
- 85
- Production countries
- United Kingdom; United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Steven Knight
- Writers
- Steven Knight · writer; Steven Knight · director
- Cast and characters
- Tom Hardy · Ivan Locke; Olivia Colman · Bethan Maguire; Ruth Wilson · Katrina Locke; Andrew Scott · Donal; Ben Daniels · Gareth; Tom Holland · Eddie Locke; Bill Milner · Sean Locke
- Genres
- psychological drama; road film
- Themes
- infidelity; fatherhood; responsibility; abandonment
- Tone and mood
- tense; dramatic; eloquent
- Setting
- A car traveling from Birmingham to London in the modern day.
- Premise and plot tags
- one-character; road movie; real-time; drama
- Reception
- The film was praised particularly for Tom Hardy's performance, which won him a Best Actor award. It received universal acclaim from critics, with a Metacritic score of 83 out of 100.
- Awards and nominations
- Best Actor · Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award · win
- Production trivia
- Almost the entire film takes place within a BMW X5 pulled down on a low flatbed trailer.; The crew only took breaks to change the three cameras' memory cards during the shoot.; The other characters' parts were recorded in real time in a conference room to include vehicle and road noise.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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