A Prayer Before Dawn

Description

Among gang members, ladyboys, and corrupt guards in an overcrowded Thai prison, heroin addict and bare-knuckle boxer Billy Moore stands out as the only Westerner, and survives the best way he knows how – with his fists. Adapted from Moore’s 2014 memoir, A Prayer Before Dawn is a brutal and relentless drama, with stomach-churning yet graceful fight sequences and an unforgettable performance by UK actor Joe Cole (Peaky Blinders).

“Fists-punching, face-pulping, defiantly, flailingly unknowable, and never willingly sympathetic, young British actor Joe Cole pounds his way through Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire’s hard-edged Thai prison drama A Prayer Before Dawn. An adaptation of former Liverpool boxer and drug addict Billy Moore’s memoirs, this film makes no concessions, much like its main character. With a visceral feel stretched and pumped by enhanced sound design and a tensile, trance-like score, Sauvaire’s (Johnny Mad Dog) film is destined for cult appreciation and a breakthrough in the remarkable Cole’s career.” – Fionnuala Halligan, Screen Daily

“At once exhausting and astonishing, this no-holds-barred adaptation of British junkie-turned-pugilist Billy Moore’s Thai prison memoir is a big, bleeding feat of extreme cinema, given elevating human dimension by rising star Joe Cole’s ferociously physical lead performance.” – Guy Lodge, Variety

Trailer

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Film Details