thomas4cinema

How much British barrenness can one endure? Here is another addition to the family that has great siblings such as most recently “We Need To Talk About Kevin”, earlier “Red Road”, “Fish Tank”, even “Harry Brown” … and even the uplifting tales of coming of age are painted on a canvas that reeks of desolation and decrepitude. “This is England”, I am talking about you… “Tyrannosaur” is about an angry middle-aged-turning-old man, played FANTASTICALLY, subtle, ferocious, vulnerable, decisive … played by the great Peter Mullan  (insert dismissive comment about Oscar Academy here… ah why bother!), his character Joseph has lost everything that is to lose, and there are few to blame but himself. He is an alcoholic, he has a bad temper, he shies away from any help the few nice people around him are willing to offer. Until he meets Hannah, who is working in a charity shop basically to get away from her own considerably wealthy but dysfunctional marriage. These two people are not meant to form a romance, or turn around their fates because of the light that shines on them – but they do get just enough inspiration and courage  out of each others’ company to turn from mostly passive endure to willing helmsman of their own fate. In the bleak English working-class reality, this cannot be enough to lead to a happy ending, but it can lead to a new and better path for both of them, after considerable suffering and pain. Great British cinema with great actors – you need to be in the mood for this kind of dirty brick realism, but then it’s among the most rewarding things you will have seen in a very long time!

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tyrannosaur/