list.co.uk/fi lm Reviews | FILM
DRAMA SUNSET SONG (15) 130min ●●●●●
ROMANCE BROOKLYN (12A) 112min ●●●●● BLACK COMEDY THE DRESSMAKER (TBC) 118min ●●●●●
The long-awaited screen version of Sunset Song is as much a Terence Davies film as it is a loving adaptation of the Lewis Grassic Gibbon novel. It offers a plaintive, rigorously unsentimental testament to a stoical struggle against an unforgiving land. There are affinities with Davies’ earlier work in Gibbon’s story of Chris Guthrie (Agyness Deyn), a young woman in the north-east of Scotland during the early years of the last century. She is clearly bright and able, which makes the thwarting of her hunger for a better life all the more cruel. The biggest obstacle is her pious, tyrannical father who regards his wife and family as little more than slaves in his domestic kingdom. Peter Mullan plays the role with a fierce, roiling anger.
The tender conviction of Deyn’s performance is a revelation and totally in tune with a film so evenly paced and contemplative that it borders on the monotonous. Davies was never a man to trade in tear-jerking melodrama; he deals in cold, harsh truths about the way we were. His Sunset Song is a wistful remembrance of the joys and sorrows, triumphs and tragedies that mark a human life. You suspect it is a film with the force to linger and grow in the memory. (Allan Hunter) ■ Selected release from Fri 4 Dec.
Writer Nick Hornby’s masterful adaptation of Colm Tóibín’s bestseller may be set in the 50s, but its ideas about displacement and the evolution of the family unit feel entirely modern. These themes are explored through the story of young Irish girl Eilis (Saoirse Ronan), who sets off to harness the opportunities promised by New York City. Although initially homesick, she soon begins to carve out a new life – assisted by dashing local Tony (Emory Cohen) – but her loyalties are torn when tragedy strikes back home. That Brooklyn focuses on an industrious young
woman gives it vim and vigour, augmented by stunning work from Ronan who conveys Eilis’s quiet strength in the face of huge emotional turmoil without a hint of melodrama. Despite some heavy- handed moments, director John Crowley shows enough restraint to let Ronan’s performance, and those of the tremendous supporting cast, lead the way. The sumptuous colour palette and evocative cinematography capture the contrasts of rural Ireland and the gleaming, soaring Big Apple, underscoring the enormous journey upon which Eilis has embarked, and making it impossible not to be swept up in her story. (Nikki Baughan) ■ General release from Fri 6 Nov.
Kate Winslet is a goddess in this hilarious, moving and very dark dramedy, based on the bestseller by Rosalie Ham. Winslet’s Tilly Dunnage sashays back into the tiny Australian town of Dungatar in 1951, 25 years after being banished. Although the misfit child has become a sophisticated woman who’s been working in couture in Paris, the ghastly townsfolk are appalled and agog to see her back, and slow to realise that she intends to exact revenge for the lies and tragic wrongs of the past. This is a lot like Hang ’Em High, with Winslet as
the Clint Eastwood character, but armed with a sewing machine instead of guns. Tilly’s ability to transform people with stylish makeovers is the weapon she uses against them as, one by one, they fall under her spell. The ensemble is incredible with Hugo Weaving, Judy Davis, Kerry Fox and Liam Hemsworth all adding value.
Those who remember the offbeat delights that came from Australia in the 90s will be thrilled to note this is co-written by PJ Hogan (Muriel’s Wedding) with his director wife Jocelyn Moorhouse. And they will be prepared for the tone to veer between wacky wit and cruel, heart-wrenching twists in a film that seems bound for cult adoration. (Angie Errigo) ■ General release from Fri 20 Nov.
ROMANCE CAROL (15) 119min ●●●●●
Patricia Highsmith conceived her 1952, Manhattan-set story of forbidden love The Price of Salt in a paranoid political climate, when sexism was rife and homosexuality shunned. When the paperback was released she started to receive mail from men and women who felt an affinity with her rich characters and their struggle to find a place in society. Todd Haynes (Far from Heaven) fashions these feelings of guilt, attraction and confusion into an achingly beautiful, tightly wound package of woe that slowly comes undone to reveal something very special indeed.
When young department store clerk and aspiring photographer Therese (Rooney Mara) spots sophisticated older woman Carol (Cate Blanchett) across the aisle over the busy Christmas period, she feels giddy but isn’t quite sure why. The two strike up a slow- burning romance, meeting for brief encounters in the city before heading off on a road trip of discovery.
Blanchett’s performance as the glamorous Carol may just break you. As the weight of a bitter custody battle over her daughter starts to consume her, she wavers delicately between powerful and fragile, threatening to topple at any moment. She’s complemented by Mara who nails Therese’s sexual awakening and maturation. Screenwriter Phyllis Nagy keeps the essence of Highsmith’s
text intact, while the melodrama is perfectly judged, with Edward Lachman’s cinematography charging events with a glistening, wintry precision that turns feverish at points. And Carter Burwell’s enticing score swells to perfection in the final throes. Haynes has crafted a breathtakingly romantic study of towering female strength in the face of gruelling adversity. This is, quite simply, exceptional filmmaking. (Katherine McLaughlin) ■ General release from Fri 27 Nov.
5 Nov 2015–4 Feb 2016 THE LIST 91