Film
Men behaving goodly
by Helene Wong
LAWLESS HEART
Directed by Neil Hunter & Tom Hunsinger; R16
Contains offensive language and sex scenes.
This is, quite simply, an unheralded gem of British cinema. One of those small but perfectly formed studies of human frailty in the manner of Mike Leigh, but without the grit; a gently observed story straddling that fine line between laughter and pain.
Three stories, actually, and about men, which makes a change, given the predominantly emotional content. Further-more, they’re not your typical hero types, so when they discover that in matters of love things don’t always go to plan, rather than relishing this as a typical hero’s challenge, these guys just get confused.
It opens, abruptly, at a funeral. The men are friends of Stuart, the deceased: brother-in-law Dan (Bill Nighy), lover Nick (Tom Hollander) and best friend Tim (Douglas Henshall), who’s been away for eight years and didn’t know that Stuart was gay. Funerals tend to bring on self-reflection, and in this case Stuart’s relative youth raises tough questions about what they really want from the rest of their lives.
So far, so pedestrian. But writer-directors Hunter and Hunsinger spice it up with an elegant Rashomon-like structure where the funeral is the common starting-point for all three stories, which play out one after the other from each protagonist’s point of view. The stories deftly interlock to the extent that actions in one become background in another, and the interpretation of those actions changes according to whose perspective is illuminating them. This element of mystery and revelation so lifts the film out of the ordinary that it doesn’t matter that in the end nothing much happens – no character transformation, no exultant climax, no big message – because the journey itself has been surprising and comically multidimensional.
As well, there is much acute observation of flawed humanity written into the characters and some very funny – and poignant – dialogue (“I once faked a broken heart, but I ran out of energy”). What makes it all fly, though, are the actors. Nighy, so memorable as the out-of-it rock singer in Still Crazy, evokes both hilarity and sympathy as he struggles over whether he should have an affair with the luscious Corinne (Clementine Celarie). His anxious demeanour and bewildered body language conjure the mid-life dilemma so brilliantly that it hurts.
Hollander, the loud, bratty Scottish filmmaker in Ben Elton’s overstuffed Maybe Baby, shows he can also do understated as the grieving partner, unsure of his future, and facing a dilemma, too, one that upturns all his notions about himself. And Henshall, the brash, free-spirited Tim, pulls off being simultaneously irritating and charming while revealing his vulnerabilities in small, telling ways. In fact, all the performances are fresh, layered and true to life, which is probably due as much to the improvisation that went on as to direction and script. The result is intelligent and compassionate, and one is left with the satisfying feeling that although the story started with death, what has just been observed is the very stuff of life itself.
PIGLET’S BIG MOVIE
Directed by Francis Glebas; G
In which Piglet shows that even a Very Small Animal can be Useful in an Adventure.
It’s a surprise to discover that although Disney’s association with Winnie-the-Pooh began 35 years ago, in the form of four featurettes, anything made since has been destined for the small rather than the big screen. Somehow Pooh seems the kind of franchise that you would assume had been thoroughly milked on film by now. Not so. Hence the recent The Tigger Movie, and now it’s Piglet’s turn.
Taking the little pink fella’s size as their central idea, the makers have chosen three of the original stories (the arrival of Kanga and Roo, the “expotition” to the North Pole and the building of Eeyore’s house at Pooh Corner) and freely rejigged them from Piglet’s perspective. Cleverly told through the reminiscences of his friends as they search for him after he goes missing in a botched hunny hunt, they show just how brave and, yes, useful, a Piglet can be, as well as inserting lessons about friendship, co-operation, tolerance of difference and the importance of acknowledging even the smallest contribution. Voicework and animation by today’s standards are uncomplicated and unremarkable, but include nice touches of humour, and Carly Simon writes, sings – and appears with – songs that even Pooh would agree make quite good Hums.
