The archetypal tough guy from London’s East End, or one man grappling with his emotions?

‘I just wanna be normal, cos obviously normal I’m not.’

In an east London garage, Darren, a mechanic, oscillates between the highs and lows of his relationship with his French girlfriend, and regret (plus a bit of relish) over the pub brawls and bloody fights that have landed him in prison more than once. As the film unfolds, Darren’s tough-guy exterior cracks apart, revealing a raw sensitivity and emotional vulnerability beneath. Imaginatively conceived, shot and edited by the London-based filmmakers Gemma Atkinson and Fred Grace, Oil & Water is simultaneously a captivating refraction of a troubling masculinity in crisis, and a complex profile of one man grappling with who he is.