Peter Mullan, Olivia Colman, Eddie Marsan, Samuel Bottomley, Paul Popplewell, Sian Breckin, Julia Mallam, Natalia Carta, Ned Dennehy, Sally Carman, Paul Conway, Lee Rufford, Piers Mettrick, Archie Lal, Fiona Carnegie, Robin Butler, Makira Steele, Imdad Miah, Andrew Milburn and Paddy Considine.
Directed By:
Paddy Considine.
Review:
Here comes another British movie, i think 2011 have been one of the very best year for the British cinema as we have seen such outstanding movies coming out. And you can also say that 2011 has been the best year for the debut directors as well. Tyrannosaur is not a movie about Dinosaurs but somewhat the exact behavior and situations in our own lives. This movie marks the directorial debut of an actor, Paddy Considine who is a very fine actor and a breakthrough filmmaker as well. This movie is based on the short film he made a few years ago that won many awards all over starring the same actors playing the same characters. Its been said that this movie depicts somewhat same conditions that Considine himself grew up with while its not entirely an autobiography. I think i wasn't prepared to watch a movie like this when i did, it left me feeling shocked as hell. The low rating i gave to this movie is because of that, its not a bad movie or a masterpiece but a very good one but too uncomfortable. This year offered many movies that challenged viewers, i have had many experiences watching movies that were quite unsettling and challenging. Here is the case where every bit of the movie left my every bit of mind and heart feeling not so good. I don't think if a movie is too uncomfortable that is a bad thing or that i wont watch it, i love the experience. This is a movie which is violent in every way, not just the fact where you'll see people beaten to death but also the characters beaten down by their life, their luck and fate and the situations. Almost everyone is one hundred percent drunk and you'll hear like ten swear words in a minute or so.
Joseph is a lonely man, who is unemployed and a widower. He is an active drunk too and all the hate, anger, rage and violence is driving him to a self destructive path. The anger and violence is filled in Joseph, to a point where you will see him beating his own dog to death and after that burying him. You will detect a slight difference of attitude in him once this incident happens, a moment where he is almost closed to kill some people at a local pub, he controls and stop himself. He forces himself to run here and there scared of his own self wanting to change his life and a way to get out of his unpleasant past and everything around him. Joseph played wonderfully by Peter Mullan crashes into a charity clothes house, he hides himself in between two racks of clothes. That shop is owned by a very kind and Christian woman Hannah played superbly by Olivia Coleman who takes pity on him, she prays for him and Joseph for a split seconds feels like a big load has been lifted from his shoulders. They later seem to develop a friendship bond, Joseph not knowing anything about Hannah, her past and present that seem to coincides with his own. Little does he know that the feel of redemption that he feels in her presence, she herself has a deep dark secret that may take him back to the path which he has been running away from. Hannah is married to James played by Eddie Marsan who once again plays a near psychotic douche bag kind of a character, he doesn't even believe on himself or is too confident about his own manliness when he suspects something going on between Hannah and Joseph, he beats Hannah violently and rapes her. Joseph not just take a deep interest in Hannah but on his neighbor too, a very young child who is threatened to death by his crazy step dad not different from James.
This movie shows extreme human behaviors in the extreme conditions following a path where most movie fails to deliver the premise but it does very well. This is a wonderful piece of work and in some way quite a thought provoking movie. There isn't any preachy message in here, its just showing a society with problems like these and how the individuals survive it. No one here is innocent, evils everyone where most of them have been made like this due to their intense past experience or their brutal present. I wont say that this is a utterly flawless movie but it has its own problems but with many other strong points ahead of it, those things doesn't bother quite much but in a little way. Movie feels quite uneven at times where some scenes and situations are stretched so much while others are shown quickly. Screenplay of it is good but not quite perfect. I thought it had perfect cinematography and the tone of this movie visually is also that dark colored one matching the movie itself.
This movie has some outstanding performances, first of all, Olivia Coleman. She is a scene stellar, the kind of performer that grabs and holds your attention for the entire movie. I loved her performance and think all the acclaim she got is so deserving. From her sympathetic Christian woman and quite innocent but still somewhat darker image at the beginning to the woman who regularly survives domestic violence and tries to move on with it hiding her bruises from the world. Her character goes many changes and she seems to go with it. A brilliant job worthy of awards. Petter Mullan who i hardly remembered until i saw Children Of Men once again did a fantastic job, like Coleman his performance is something i would consider the best of his career. He plays it so effortlessly that you fall into this illusion that he might be exactly like this in his real life. Outstanding performance by both of them. Eddie Marsan who i think is another wonderful actor gives one of the best supporting performance of his career since Happy Go Lucky. He is the kind of a man you just hate the core but he does it perfectly. One thing is for sure that in the beginning when Joseph seems like a unlikable, violent and angry man that slowly fades away towards the end when you find even more ugliness in people around him.
This movie might have a thin plot but the whole premise of the movie is quite dark, heavy and big. Some scenes in the movie were so disturbing that i almost didn't wanted to watch them. The beating once were unbelievably real. I think this is a one brave filmmaking that deserves all the acclaim.
Grade: B+
Does it name Natalia Carta on the credits? Im her sister and i have just stumbled across this.
ReplyDelete