Change Your Image
scotsexile
Lists
An error has ocurred. Please try againReviews
My Dog Skip (2000)
saccharine nonsense
Sorry to say I cant agree with all the reviewers who obviously loved this film. I thought it was sentimental hokum.The retro view of 40s Mississipi just looked so staged.The situations were almost all ridiculous and it simply lacked any real emotional honesty. I had hoped that this film might be similar in feel to Hallstroms "My Life as a Dog" a truly original and wondrous coming of age film. Maybe I am becoming cynical as I age or maybe this movie was too Hollywood for me.So apologies to all of this movies fans ....it just didn't do it for me. As a genre there are a number of coming of age films out there to choose from.Whilst I am sure the director set out to portray an honest view of childhood there are too many other films that achieve a better and more credible vision.
The Terence Davies Trilogy (1983)
unrecognised masterpiece
This has to be one of British cinemas unsung masterpieces.In three parts equating to childhood manhood and old age it painstakingly delineates the details of a very ordinary life.Filmed in B/W it has a documentary feel to it and its Liverpool setting is indeed bleak.The main character is based on the life of the writer of the film Terence Davies and as such is autobiography as catharsis and confession.He is gay at a time when homosexuality was illegal in England and the stifling effects of his strict catholic upbringing only serve to deepen his guilt. It is a bleak story with some stark and terrifying imagery.Wilfrid Bramble aka Steptoe plays Daveies as the old man brilliantly.The deathbed scene and the way it is shot stay in the mind for ages. So with no light relief why see this?I can only say that it has a humanity and insight that are rare in cinema.He is in the same league as Loach and Leigh.
Vera Drake (2004)
mike Leigh goes from strength to strength a masterpiece
I missed seeing this at the cinema but it still does well viewing it on DVD.I have seen all of Mike Leighs work and have always considered him one of Britains leading film makers.Vera Drake does nothing to dispel that view.If anything this is an even more accomplished work than what precedes it. The plot line is simple and I wont delineate it again here ....otheer reviewers have already done that well enough.It is essentially about the lives and interactions of the characters struggling in working class London in 1950 still struggling wth post War existtence.The period detail is spot on and very understated.So many Britsh big budget films replace content with style ..Vera Drake suffices with minimal 50s references but captures the look and feel of the period brilliantly. The ensemble acting is wondrous and the sense of tragedy as it unfolds in the claustrophobic world of the period is indeed profound .A truly great film that will become a classic of British cinema.