Evangelism
Review Of The Year 2010: The Half Dozen Best Trailers of 2010
Yes, it’s party time – end of the year, Christmas dinner is eaten and everyone’s learning the words to Auld Lang Syne ready for the weekend. At the end of my first year of blogging, I thought would be sensible to reflect on what’s happened in cinema, and indeed what’s happened to me, over the course of the year. The purpose of my blog, which I’m going to attempt to reinforce as we enter 2011, is that I firmly believe that the vast majority of movies can be improved by watching them in a cinema, and that there are still a significant number of good movies being made.
Our window into this world of movies, and sometimes the only crumb of comfort at the start of a poor movie, is the trailer, and for the last seven months I’ve picked out a selection of half a dozen trailers each month that caught my eye, in an attempt to encourage you, the reader, to see as diverse a range of movies as possible. So I’ll start this look back at the year with a selection of trailers that really stood out, for one reason or another, and I’ve come up with half a dozen of them, unsurprisingly.
Trailers are a fine art, and in the wrong hands can completely destroy anticipation for a movie (see this trailer for Tamara Drewe that probably ended up doing not only that, but costing it some of its audience in the process, having pitched this as a Richard Curtis-lite fluffy rom-com, which it most certainly isn’t). I’ve also already blogged this year on my frustrations at trailers which effectively give the game away; the best trailers give a flavour of what the movie is about, enticing you in, but still leave you to discover the true delights of the movie while you’re watching the full length version, not the two minute digest.
Anyway, these are the six trailers which I felt this year were the finest exponents of their art.
Best Trailer Where The Movie Didn’t Quite Live Up To The Trailer: The Brothers Bloom
I must confess to not having seen Brick when it came out, but it did get a lot of good word of mouth, and consequently I was looking forward to director Rian Johnson’s latest effort. This got stuck in release hell and took two years to finally land in cinemas, and it was evident when it did that it was maybe just a little too quirky for its own good. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s an OK movie, but the trailer is fantastic, and it’s almost a mini movie in itself. Shame something got lost in the final cut.
Best Use Of Old Music That Everyone Was Sick Of But Now Really Likes In A Post-Modern Retro Way Trailer: Four Lions
Confession time: I like Toploader. I used to have their first album on Mini Disc; in fact, it was the only album I owned exclusively on Mini Disc when I still had a player. Thankfully my taste in film has always been a little better, and indeed a little wider, than my musical taste, but at least when this trailer got everyone bopping along to the much derided “Dancing In The Moonlight” I could feel that, for once, I was ahead of fashion and trend, rather than trailing painfully in its wake.
Best At Not Giving The Game Away Trailer: A Single Man
If you want to know how to cut a trailer together, then this is pretty much a masterclass from the school of “let’s stick lots of press quotes so people know how good it is in among some random footage”. (Which is a pretty long and rubbish name for a school.) It’s a work of art, quite literally, and reflects the aesthetics that director Tom Ford brought to the movie without giving away vast reams of plot, or even dialogue. It helps when you have Colin Firth and Julianne Moore so that people know the acting will be up to scratch when the movie arrives, of course.
The Ronseal Award For Doing Exactly What It Says On The Tin: Jackass 3D
Did the world really need another Jackass movie? One minute and twenty three seconds into the trailer, when a giant hand covered in flour made me laugh as much as anything else I saw this year, I knew the answer. Probably not, but what the heck!
Most Iconic Trailer Of The Year: Inception
The most recognisable trailer of the year, the subject of numerous spoofs, mash-ups and even this South Park parody, and oddly the trailer actually gives a lot away; but you wouldn’t know this until you’d seen the movie at least once, and probably twice, because the trailer is so well constructed and the movie itself so densely packed.
Best Trailer of 2010: The Social Network
I liked it so much, I bought the soundtrack. (Thankfully that cost me 99p from iTunes.) As perfectly constructed as the movie it was promoting, it was a perfect storm (editing, soundtrack, dialogue, story) of the elements to make a great trailer, and I quite literally will never tire of watching it.
So that’s your lot for this year. 2011 doesn’t look the most promising in terms of output, but there’s already some great trailers in the offing for the first few months – here’s hoping that the movies they’re promoting turn out to be just as good, if not better.
The Friday Encourager: Ten reasons to see Cuckoo this week
It’s Friday again and it’s time again for my recommendation for what you should watch this week. Truth be told, it’s actually Sunday when I’m posting this. Sadly I have been so busy this month that I couldn’t manage to write a post dedicated to Fridays on a Friday. I toyed for a while with the alliterative Sunday Supporter, but I eventually decided “my blog, my rules”, so I’m posting a Friday post on Sunday. I’m just that daring. (I also dunk digestives in my tea for over ten seconds at a time and I never wear a hat out in winter. Total rebel, me.)
At times like this, cinema is more of an escape than ever. There’s nothing better than huddling down in a warm cinema with the crowded masses to get away from those other crowded masses frantically flinging their last few pennies down the gaping throat of consumerism, and all in the name of Christmas. This week is a typical week in release schedules, with a big Hollywood blockbuster or two (Tron: Legacy, Burlesque) and a talked about indie (Catfish) all getting screens. But this week, I’m going to suggest something a little different for you, and here’s why you’d be mad not to give Cuckoo a chance.
1. I couldn’t wait until next Friday to tell you. Sadly we live in an age where opening weekends are everything, and where to get a film to stay in cinemas for more than a week before the latest Harry Potter swallows up all the screens is a challenge in itself. So the longer I wait, the less chance there is that you’ll actually be able to see it.
2. The director is a bitter man. At least that’s what we had to drink before the Q & A I hosted the other evening. I got the chance to talk to writer / director Richard Bracewell for over an hour, and what comes over instantly is his real passion for his work and thorough knowledge. That comes through on the screen, but it’s not forced down your throat in that overly referential way that so many movies fall into the trap of these days.
3. “We want the finest wines available to humanity! And we want them here, and we want them now!” Hopefully words familiar to any fan of Withnail and I, and there are many of us around. Richard E. Grant is one of those actors who instantly elevates the quality of anything he touches, and he gets to play a little against type here.
4. Tamsin Greig is a national treasure. REG is not the only big name in the cast. From Black Books through Green Wing to this year’s Tamara Drewe, Tamsin Greig is also fantastic and is one of the finer actresses to grace both small and big screen in both comedy and drama working at present.
5. Laura Fraser should be a national treasure. That’s not to say that all of the acting talent is wrapped up in the two most famous names. Heading the cast is Laura Fraser, who’s most recently been seen on our screens in BBC3’s Lip Service and who perfectly embodies the creeping paranoia at the core of the film. But there’s not a false note across the whole cast.
6. It’s a local film, but it’s not just for local people. Interiors filmed in a warehouse in Great Yarmouth? You wouldn’t know. The movie has a fantastically creepy edge, and this is helped not only by the well staged interiors but by the cinematography and the locations, which help to build the paranoia.
7. It shows how important sound is in the cinema. I’ve spent most of the past year attempting to explain to people why movies should be seen in the cinema, and this perfectly embodies that concept. For a film that relies on its use of sound to affect the characters actions and motivations, unless you have a top end home cinema you will do yourself a disservice. Andrew Hewitt’s score is also moodily effective.
8. It’s got an appalling score on Rotten Tomatoes. (Wait, what?) Which goes to show how utterly misleading these things can be sometimes. Cuckoo has gotten strong reviews from at least three major newspapers, two of which haven’t yet appeared on the site. It’s also struggled to make some weekly publications as the clutch of new releases this week means that it’s missed out in a few. It does go to show that you should base your viewing choices as least as much on your personal preferences as on the opinions of others.
9. It twists and turns like a twisty, turny thing. Like movies with twist endings? I count The Shawshank Redemption, The Empire Strikes Back and The Usual Suspects among my favourites, and theirs and others like them have an enduring popularity that shows we all love a twist. Cuckoo might not be in their league (sorry, Richard) but it does have a doozy of an ending that will get you to reconsider what’s gone before.
10. It’s keeping the British end up. I came to the realisation while talking to Richard that I’ve seen more French films this year than British ones, and that’s a shame. I’m not suggesting you should blindly go to watch any British movie (hint: check to see if Danny Dyer is in the cast first) but this one will be worth 90 minutes of your time if you’re willing to give it a go, and by doing so, hopefully you’ll help more British product find its way into our cinemas.
They Don’t Make ‘Em Like They Used To
The more I embark down the road of my cinema addiction, the more I realise that I have, for too long, been just confining myself to the latest Hollywood blockbusters. Moving to an area with one (now two) good quality arthouse cinemas to complement the multiplexes has helped me no end, and also setting myself the goal of seeing large numbers of films has encouraged me to expand my horizons. For me, the distinction is not that I’m watching the kind of movies I’ve never watched before, but until now I may not have chosen to watch them in a cinema.
I’ve also been guilty until recently of another kind of shameful snobbery – while my broad tastes now take in everything from the broadly experimental to the mainstream, I had held off on catching classic movies at the cinema, for fear that in watching those I would lose the time to watch modern day fare where it should be watched. I had also assembled quite a series of the classics, which sit in my DVD collection and are just waiting for me to find the time. But my ethos is, of course, that any and every film is improved by watching in the cinema, so why would I ignore the golden oldies? (The answer is, of course, because I’m an idiot.)
The Half Dozen: 6 Most Interesting Looking Movies for December
Is is the end of another year already? I swore, after my attempts to watch 100 movies in the cinema in a calendar year two years ago, that I would never again scale such ridiculous heights of cinema addiction. 119 movies and counting this year, and every time I set foot in the cinema, that pointless personal milestone is edged ever further upwards, until the fateful day four weeks from now when the counter will reset to one again. I’m averaging about ten a month at the moment, so I’m guessing I’ll end up somewhere around the 130 mark – but what delights await me, and indeed all of us, in this final month of the year?
Well, first off is Monsters, which allows me to remind you of my self-imposed condition that any movie I’ve already seen doesn’t make this list. Well, I’ve already seen Monsters, I loved it (you can find it in my Best of 2010 list, link at the top of the page), and I hope you will too, but it has slightly Marmite tendencies. Well I love Marmite, and I loved Monsters.
Anyway, it’s out, and also not making the cut are a number of other big names: Jolie and Depp in The Tourist, which tonally lurches about through the trailer like someone trying to riverdance on a mountain bike; the third in both the Narnia and Fockers series, and given that I’ve had no interest in the first two of either, am not inclined to the third movements (and neither trailer had anything to convince me otherwise); the Christina Aguilera campfest Burlesque, where Xtina’s normal singing style, when she sounds as if she’s gargling meerkats, appears to be her one and only burlesque talent; and Love and Other Drugs, which has the positive of top Hollywood stars forgetting where they left their clothes but also Oliver Platt doing a bizarre Jack Black imitation. (Speaking of Jack Black, well, let’s not. Let’s just not. Please, let’s never speak of him, or the Swiftian grave-spinner that is Gulliver’s Travels, again.)
Most tragic of all is the omission of Of Gods And Men, the highly rated French movie, which isn’t included because there wasn’t a decent trailer on YouTube and I couldn’t get the other one I found to embed properly. Along such fickle lines the dance of fate takes place. Anyway, here are the six I was most taken by this month.
Rare Exports
I’m a sucker for a good Christmas movie. Frankly, who isn’t? I’m a bit of a walking Christmas dichotomy, though; on the one hand I’ll lap up traditional Christmas fare like It’s A Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street, but on the other I need some Bad Santa in my life as well, and everyone of course knows that the best Christmas movie ever is Die Hard. (I’m not even joking.) Please be aware that, although this is a PG site, there is a rather naughty word at the end of the trailer. Hopefully it’s worth it.
Somewhere
I can remember an office trip to see Lost In Translation many years ago. Two of us were completely in love with the movie at the end, the other was totally disaffected. Such is the way of Sofia Coppola, and while her work can sometimes be incredible, this trailer seems to be a supreme attempt not to give anything away about the movie, other than it’s got Stephen Dorff in it, and Dakota Fanning’s sister looking so much like Chloe Moretz you wonder if there’s some odd Hollywood actress laboratory churning these girls out from their magnificent cloning machine. Still, it has an actual mumblecore soundtrack, and it couldn’t feel more classically “indie” if it tried.
The Shop Around The Corner
One of the highlights of my movie year was my trip to the BFI and Empire Movie-Con this summer, about which I blogged extensively. As I happen to be down in London for something else, I’ll be taking the opportunity to catch this while there, as I attempt to improve on my desperately poor knowledge of classic movies. Jimmy Stewart is also one of the finest actors of all time, so to pass up the opportunity to see him on the big screen would be a crime. Even the trailer is great – they absolutely don’t make ’em like this anymore, and that’s a shame. It’s so great to get away from our over-processed, fast food lives and luxuriate in something like this.
Cuckoo
Here’s where the self interest ramps up a notch. It really wouldn’t take much convincing to get me to any movie with the legend that is REG (or Richard E. Grant as he is known otherwise) to it, and throw in Tamsin Greig, so great earlier this year in Tamara Drewe, and I’m there. As it turns out, when I am there, so will be the writer / director, Richard Bracewell, for one of my local cinemas, the Abbeygate Picturehouse in Bury St. Edmunds, is having a Q & A with Richard. Which I will be hosting. I will be astonished if that last sentence hasn’t prompted you to whip out the credit card and head to the booking site right now. Go on – we’ll wait for you.
There now follows a brief intermission to allow people to buy tickets.
Right. Done? Excellent. See you there.
TRON: Legacy
Another of my highlights of the year was my IMAX double bill of Toy Story 3 and Inception. The IMAX couldn’t be further removed from somewhere like the Abbeygate, with its comfy sofas on the back row in the cosy upstairs screen, but I love these different aspects of the cinema experience, and TRON is about as big as it gets. This will be my fourth visit to the IMAX this year, and if you’ve never been then there may never be a better time – TRON is what the IMAX experience is made for. Apparently, the beginning of the movie is in 2D, but they’ve brightened it up so you can carry on wearing the silly glasses before it gets to the fun stuff.
Catfish
And we finish the year on the most intriguing movie of the selection. Part of the value of this is going in not knowing the outcome, so it’s a shame that I inadvertently read an article in the Guardian magazine the other weekend which has blown the whole thing. So whatever you do, don’t go and Google that article – stay as fresh as possible, for from what I know, it should be well worth it.
The Friday Encourager: Do The Monster Mash
Another Friday rolls around, and normally at this point I’d be attempting to cajole you, dear reader, into a trip to the cinema at some point in the coming week, for as we all know that is the place where movies must be watched for the fullest effect. But this week, with snow on the ground and the country grinding to a halt, I find it harder than ever to suggest that those of you living in a winter wonderland should trek out and find something to watch. (And it’s not even winter yet – an autumn wonderland?)
But there is something that is worth making the trek for this week, and it’s from a British director who’s marked himself out as a real talent to watch, Gareth Edwards. His first feature film is a labour of love, and has the look of a movie ten times its budget. But there’s something lurking in this Monster’s closet; the marketing campaign.
There’s a number of different cuts of the trailer around, and some of them err on the side of suggesting this is another District 9, a monster mash with the emphasis on the monsters. I attempted to draw the distinction in my review that this isn’t just about the monsters by drawing out the differences, and if anything the title itself may be misleading. It’s a hard movie to pin down, being part road movie, part love story and part giant monster movie, but it’s absolutely not a thrill-a-minute action ride, so try to go in without expectations, and just let Monsters grab hold of you. I hope you’ll be as enraptured as I was.
The Friday Encourager: Pottering About – Or Not?
Well, it’s that time again. Not only is it Friday, so time for another slice of well-meant encouragement to help you on your way to the cinema, where of course you’ll find a diverse array of movies awaiting your viewing pleasure. Although this weekend, you’re more likely than not to find yourself faced with two and a half hours, consisting of half a film about wizards, with possibly a few midgets and Helena Bonham Carter thrown in for good measure. There are five cinemas within twenty miles of my house, with a combined total of 31 screens, and Potter and his teen-looking chums will be gracing 16 of them by my count.
So you may wonder why I’m bothering this week. Surely you’re either such a rabid Potter fanboy that you’ve already had a small lightning bolt tattooed into your forehead, you’ve ritually sacrificed your parents and have already been to see the movie three times, and are now reading this from the cupboard under the stairs where you’ve made your home, or you’re feeling duty bound to go and see it anyway, and this must be the last one, or nearly the last one, or I’ll pretend it’s the last one, but either way, you’ll be seeing young wizards this weekend, because that’s the only real option. Right?
Wrong. On those other screens, even in my locality, there are still some gems playing, including at various points The Social Network, Another Year, Jackass 3D, Let Me In and A Town Called Panic, all of which are between great and outstanding, and the last of which I’ve even managed to get around to writing a review for. But also opening this week is Chico & Rita, which I was lucky enough to see as the surprise film at the Cambridge Film Festival earlier this year. And it couldn’t be further removed from Potter – it’s an amimated movie, a mixture of rotscoping and CGI, set in the Americas of the late Forties and telling a love story set around jazz music, featuring a fantastic soundtrack of the era. If you’re lucky enough to have it near you, it really is worth seeking out. But don’t be afraid to brave the crowds of teenage wizard wannabes this weekend, you could still find something truly magical.
The Friday Encourager: Man-Child Weekend
This is the weekend of the people who don’t act their age, being either spectacularly less mature than they should be or actually astonishingly grown up. If my plan comes off, I’ll be seeing all three of these, plus Another Year – what say you give one of them a go? Surely something for everyone this weekend, especially the grown-ups.
The Half Dozen: The 6 Most Interesting Looking Movies For November
Another month, another round of movies. November is traditionally a good time of year for the movies, what with us giving thanks for having packed the riff-raff off to the colonies all those years ago, and said colonists having some sort of similar celebration where they eat turkey a month too early. My wife has some sort of clinical aversion, which I’ve never encountered anywhere else, to going to watch movies in daylight, so life does become easier in that respect now that winter is nearly upon us.
So what to choose this month? By my self imposed rules (well, rule, really, it’s the only one I’ve got so far), I don’t include movies in this list that I’ve already seen, mainly because I’m then judging the movie and not the trailer. So this month that has ruled out Chico & Rita and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest from consideration – they’re both strong movies and deserving of your time, but you really do need to have seen the first two Millennium movies to have any chance of fully understanding Hornet’s Nest.
Then there’s the movies that aren’t interesting enough, including Harry Potter and I Thought This Was The Last One Apparently Not, for which the trailer doesn’t look bad, it’s just difficult to get too excited about the seventh in a series. (We’re looking at you, Diamonds Are Forever and Star Trek: Generations.) I’ve also ruled out Let Me In, for while I adore the original, the trailer actually makes this look less interesting than I think it will prove to be, possibly in an attempt to generate some kind of audience. The trailer is worth watching if only for the giant “Hammer” logo at the beginning – let’s hope that’s not the last we see of that.
There is some other stuff, including some newness from Rob Reiner, some over-the-topness from Robert Rodriguez, some this-all-looks-a-bit-familarness from George Clooney, Colin Farrell doing a very good, but at the same time very odd, accent in William Monaghan’s attempt at making a serious Guy Ritchie movie and even this year’s Palme D’Or winner from Cannes. I love Thailand and I love arthouse, but I nearly fell asleep watching the trailer. Maybe I’ll wait and see on that one.
So, without further ado, the six trailers that stood out for me this month. Hope we both get to see as many of the finished products as possible.
Jackass 3D
The Marmite of movies, you either love them or hate them. I have to say that I think most of the stunts are somewhere between dangerous and revolting, often a combination of the two, that it’s all intensely puerile… and that I laughed like a drain throughout the first two movies. So I’m afraid I’m in the former camp – sorry if that disappoints you, reader. But watch this trailer, even if you think you might be in the latter camp – Jackass has always stood out against its peers partly for the ingenuity and innovation of its stunts, but mainly for the unparalleled sense of camaraderie that exists between Johnny Knoxville and his band of crazy brothers. The high five is still the funniest single moment I’ve seen in the cinema all year.
Another Year
This trailer is, in its own way, very similar to the Jackass trailer, in that it sets its stall out, and is almost as keen to tell you about the quality of what you’ll see as the content. (I have to say I like the latter part of that approach; no-one wants to see too much given away in the trailer.) I have to confess that I only saw my first Mike Leigh movie two years ago, when I was on my first all-out cinema binge, and it was a pleasure then – I’m sure it’s going to be a pleasure now as well.
Skyline
While the trailer is interesting in itself, it would be fair to say that my expectations of this movie are not exactly Sky High, feeling as it does somewhere between Independence Day and Cloverfield. It’s also taken that approach with it’s actors, avoiding big names or no names and instead going with Milo from 24 and Turk from Scrubs. Classy. More fascinating, though, is the controversy that surrounds this, with The Brothers Strause owing the effects house that has produced this movie (total movie cost, less than $20 million) and also been involved in effects work next year’s Battle: Los Angeles (total movie cost, est. $100 million), thus infuriating Sony earlier this year. Will be intriguing to compare the two come next year.
We Are What We Are
As the caption says, “…does what Let The Right One In did for vampires.” Yes, cannibals are next to get the art house treatment, and there looks to be plenty going on in this one. Not much more I can say on this one, other than that the trailer looks to be not for those of a nervous disposition, so I can only imagine what the movie contains. (Actually, thanks to the BBFC’s website, it contains strong bloody violence, horror, moderate sex and mild language, such as ‘asshole’ and ‘damn’. Thanks, BBFC!)
Robinson In Ruins
I can’t imagine this one coming anywhere near Cambridge or Bury St. Edmunds, my two cinematic hangouts, so I shall just have to enjoy the trailer, although the neon title cards did give me brief flashbacks to Enter The Void. I simply present this paragraph from the IMDb page for your consideration:
Unstoppable
Denzel Washington and Tony Scott have made a series of movies that could be illustrated in terms of quality by one of those stock market crash graphs with a red line on a white background. If they carry on with that trend, this will be off the bottom of the scale, especially since The Taking Of Pelham 123 was buttock-clenchingly tedious (it ended with a walking chase, for crying out loud – that is NOT an action movie or a thriller, Mr Scott) but they’ve been hyping this one up, calling it Speed meets Jaws. Frankly, if it’s half as good as either it’ll keep my popcorn down very nicely.
The Friday Encourager: The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
…is Christmas, obviously. But Hallowe’en is still a good time for moviegoers, for a variety of reasons. So whether you love or hate this season, being inside a cinema should be high on your list of possible options this weekend.
Love: Paranormal Activity 2
If you want to truly get the spooky feel, then the best bet would be some out and out scares. There are other seasonal options around (neither of which I’ve seen yet, I hasten to add), Saw 3D finishing the horror series, and while the first two were great scares and more thoughtful horror movies with great twists, it’s been pretty much downhill from there. There’s also Burke and Hare, but the trailer suggests this is broad comedy through and through. So if you’re looking for things that go bump in the night, then may I suggest the follow up to last year’s low budget chiller.
I’ll be honest with you – if you don’t buy into the concept at least a little then you may be struggling to get the most from this one. It’s also largely a retread of the first movie, with just enough to keep it different, although it does attempt to expand the story of the original. (I know, I’m really selling it, aren’t I?) But if you can find a darkened cinema with enough like minded other individuals, there’s enough jumps and scares here to leave you wandering nervously into the night. (Clue’s in that last sentence – movies like this shouldn’t be watched in the daytime.)
Hate – Pretty much anything else
I’ll be honest – I’m not a fan of Hallowe’en. Even if I didn’t have some religious leanings, I’ve never been that into ghosts or ghouls, and if there was an All Hallows equivalent of “Bah humbug!”, I’d be saying it right now. (I may have to come up with one, come back to me on that.) But why not escape the constant barrage of over-sugared seven year olds arriving at your front door with a box of eggs, a suspicious looking paper bag and a collection of malicious grins beneath those Spider-Man masks, and head down to your local multiplex or art house?
Rounding out the top 4 (number 5 is an odd looking film about owls fighting in slow motion) are Despicable Me, RED and The Social Network. The latter is an instant classic that will have people banding around words like zeitgeist and Timberlake, the former are two perfectly acceptable pieces of entertainment, one for the family and one for the grown ups, but both with plenty of enjoyable moments. But if you have any sense, then you’ll see The Social Network, if you haven’t already, and possibly even if you have. But please, just get out there and see something.
(Timbergeist? For the Hallowe’en bah humbug? No, sounds more like something you’d wear on the day. Or maybe they all need to be sweet related. Humph bonbon?)
The Friday Encourager: Keeping The British End Up
Just wanted to give a bit of encouragement for a couple of Brit flicks this week that didn’t seem to get the love for some reason. Both only took about £600,000 at the UK box office in their first weekend, debuting and 5 and 6 respectively in the UK box office top 10, but both are great movies (worth an 8/10 each on my scale). So if they’re playing near you this weekend, then do give one or the other a chance if you haven’t already.
‘Tamara Drewe’ is on the surface another of the tradition of soft British romantic comedies, but this takes its steer from the Guardian stories on which it’s based and lurking beneath the soft and cuddly sheen are darker and more interesting tendencies. An all-round excellent cast complement the solid script and Stephen Frears’ direction keeps everything ticking along very efficiently, juggling numerous sub-plots before wrapping everything together for the conclusion.
Made in Dagenham, on the other hand, is much more conventional at its core, but is an exceptionally well-made tale based on the true story of the minority of female workers at a Ford plant and their efforts to get equality for themselves and their colleagues. Sally Hawkins is the stand-out in the lead role, ably supported by the likes of Bob Hoskins and Miranda Richardson, this is honest, heart-warming and if it is a smidgen predictable, that actually adds to its comfort.
With the UK Film Council soon to be a thing of the past, we should all be supporting quality British product, and I can only assume that it’s poor marketing that has contributed to the difficulties of these in finding an audience. Let me put your mind at rest, either of these will be worth two hours of your time, so if you still have an opportunity, make it British this week.
The Movie Evangelist 