Five Seconds to Spare (1999)

What is youth without its dreamy ambition, a vision of the possible future that verges on fantasy? The great thing is that dreams do come true. Aspiring rock demigods do week after week rise to the top of the charts to achieve actual fame and real-life financial independence. Unless, of course, like the rocker prodigy whose dulled innocence is at the center of Five Seconds to Spare (1999), he is the sole witness as a pair of dwarves murder the lead singer of a rival band. Based on author Jonathon Coe's novel The Dwarves of Death and set in alternately seedy and spectacular sections of London, England, Five Seconds to Spare is a taut murder drama that also explores the progressive deterioration of artistic aspirations compromised by commerce. When a few dollars are at stake, we are all potential homicides, and the killer may be no one other than ourselves.