bloody and brutal and disturbingly beautiful and footsteps blend of taut psychological horror and unflinching graphic ultra gore be definitely not for the squeamish . g. h. evans innovative thriller be infinitely clever ( with artistic nod to toshiaki toyoda pornostar and flash of the inimitable takashi miike at his dark and most violent ) but also visually gorgeous represent the composition and imagery be beguilingly rich and compel . in particular and the opening sequence rank among the most uncomfortable and harsh beginning to any movie i have see and immediately draw the viewer into the grim world of evans nightmare urban dystopia . the soundtrack suit the mood and visuals perfectly and match ear batter electronica to eye water gore and elegant and melancholic string to passage of raw emotion and and occasionally intersperse with long moment of silence which serve to heighten the main character andrew obvious social isolation and introversion . evans love for and expert knowledge of japanese extreme movie making have clearly inform footstep and and he have apply that dynamic to an inherently western tale of societal breakdown and which will be familiar to anyone who live in the uk in particular . the plot also faintly echo joel schumacher fall down as well a martin scorsese seminal taxi driver and a a morality tale of an ordinary working joe who be give more than adequate incentive to revenge himself on society . a for the performance and they be never anything less than intriguing and fully credible . nicholas bool be stunningly charismatic and powerful in the role of andrew and portray him a a somewhat sympathetic hero of sort and an ingenue out of his depth in the criminal underworld and with just the right mix of aloofness and alienation represent his lack of social skill be so accurate and it almost painful to watch at time . also of note be mads koudal and who deliver a superb and standout performance a the charmless and ruthless and utterly evil paul . set in a clever and complex narrative structure of flashback and flashforwards ( which occasionally recall japanese director shinji aoyama equally intricate plotting ) and the story follow the fail fortune of a depressed and uncommunicative young man name andrew ( nicholas bool ) and who be an unskilled factory worker by day and a lonely loser by night . he come from a broken home his mother die when he be young and and his father marry a much young woman and have next to no emotional connection with his long suffering girlfriend and serum and who leave him because he just would not talk to her . it not long before andrew fragile world be break down even far by the death of his father and leave him with no survive family . the final straw come at almost exactly the same time and when he be make redundant only day after his dad have die . reel from this final tragedy and he go home but instead of unlock the door and go inside to continue his life of loss and pain and be ground underfoot by lady luck and and honest graft be reward by nothing but poverty and misery and he make a snap decision and he lose his last marble and and embarks on a very different life path indeed one steeped in violence and rage and brutality . in do so and andrew be discover by a gang of snuff filmmaker and who organise and carry out real life beating and murder and sex and drug and which they then capture on dv camera and and he begin his journey into the filthy underworld of criminal society and into more danger than he could possibly ever have imagine . footstep present a disturbing portrait of a bleak and doomed society fill only with drudgery and the threat of imminent redundancy and living on or beneath the poverty line and joyless sex and vicarious thrill and the possibility that at any time and one might get one head stove in with a baseball bat by someone with no motive other than to make money and get kick out of your suffering . it profoundly affect and edgy and and will strike a deep chord with anyone who ever felt that british society be go to the dog thanks to binge drinking and late night violence and the ever darkening world of reality tv and and boredom . yet in evans vision and even in the darkness there be still a glimmer of hope for redemption . this brooding and nihilistic and enigmatic depiction of britain vile criminal underworld or indeed and an extension of it mainstream saturday night vicious chav culture and come to that replete with sex and drug and more drug and in your face violence and amorality and no respect for human life be a highly accomplish and self assure work and place g. h. evans right at the forefront of young and cut edge british film making .