FromPhilip Barantini, the director ofBoiling Point— an acclaimed film best known for being staged ina virtuosic single take— comesAccused, a new thriller that looks just as pulse-pounding. The film’s first trailer was unveiled on Thursday, and it effectively teases a politically loaded story of a man who is falsely accused of a terrible crime, and subsequently hounded for it online and in real life.
Chaneil Kular(Netflix’sSex Education) stars as a young South Asian man named Harri, who leaves London one day to dog-sit for his parents in the countryside. But his excursion coincides witha terror attackat an Underground station. Harri doesn’t know it yet, but a series of rumors will paint him as the perpetrator of the attack, and he’ll be hounded by angry vigilantes braying for his blood.
Not only does the movie appear to be highlighting the dangers of online misinformation, it also exposes the racism that people from minority communities are so often subjected to. A helpless Harri urgently tries to clear his name, but soon, stray tweets turn into major news stories, and his face is plastered all over the internet and on TV. Before he knows it, his address and phone number are leaked, and Harri finds himself in a horrific siege-like situation in his parents’ house. The latter half of the trailer suggests that Barantini might have made a real horror movie this time — a terrifying combination ofBlack MirrorandHome Alone.
The Movie Exposes the Dangers of Online Misinformation
Released in 2021,Boiling Pointwas a real-time dramatization of a nerve-wracking dinner service overseen by a volatile head chef played byStephen Graham. Fans of the brilliant FX seriesThe Bearwill find lots to love about it.Boiling Pointwas just as acclaimed, scoring four nominations at the BAFTAs. A sequel television series, partially directed by Barantini, is also in the works. Co-written byBarnaby BoultonandJames Cummings,Accusedclocks in at under 90 minutes, and will be released on September 22. You can watch the trailer here, and read the official synopsis down below:
False accusations mix with the wildfire spread of social media with deadly consequences when twenty-something Harri travels from the city to dog sit for his parents in the countryside. After being mistaken as the suspect of a train bombing in London, would-be heroes of the people track down his house, where Harri must prove his innocence to the online masses and defend his home and himself from the violent vigilantes.”
