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1.5 KiB
Plaintext
1 line
1.5 KiB
Plaintext
This movie has only just come out on DVD in Britain, that is a shamefully long time for a film to reach the country it was made in. But now it is here, and possibly finding a new audience, I thought I'd write a quick review. If you have read some of the other reviews, you will no doubt be aware of the 'kitchen sink' factor in this film. Well, I'm not going to deny that, the subject matter would not look out of place in a soap opera. . . .however it is the performances, the script and the fantastic style of this movie which pulls it out of the mundane and into the cinematic. Michael Winterbottom is clearly a director who like several of his British contemporaries such as Mike Leigh and Shane Meadows, believes that the drama around us in everyday life is worthy of the big screen. The film has a fine ensemble of characters, three very different sisters, their estranged brother and squabbling parents. The performances are brave and heartfelt in all cases, and even though the drama takes place over one weekend, the characters really do evolve. The most enticing thing about the film is the way it is shot and scored. Sean Bobbitt's time lapse photography and dogma style 16mm cinematography combined with Michael Nyman's emotive music is a really fantastic combination. This film shows London how the people who live there see it, namely from the ground. Nearly every film set in London now seems to have to include the Gherkin, the Tate modern and the Millennium wheel, what Winterbottom presents us with is something simultaneously far less and far more remarkable. |