Richard’s “Canada AM” reviews for Daniel Craig as James Bond in “Spectre,” the Charlie Brown reboot “The Peanuts Movie” and the Drew Barrymore cancer drama “Miss You Already.”
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There are two and three hanky movies and then there are films like “Miss You Already” that demand more extreme measures. It’s one of those stories that is bound to inspire both happy and sad crying, so bring a box of Kleenex, or better yet, an absorbent towel.
Drew Barrymore and Toni Collette are Jess and Milly, childhood friends who have remained close even though their lives have taken different paths. Jess is an environmentalist, an earth mother who lives on a Thames houseboat with her husband Jago (Paddy Considine). Milly is a self-centered publicist, mother of two, married to a former roadie-turned-millionaire Kit (Dominic Cooper).
When Milly is diagnosed with breast cancer, her best friend is at her side but when the cancer comes back as Jess and Jago are expecting their first child the decades long relationship becomes strained.
“Miss You Already” begins as a light-hearted romp but develops into something deeper. As Milly’s cancer progresses the movie stays with her at every step, from disbelief, to anger, to denial and finally acceptance. It is unflinching—anyone who has experienced chemo will feel a twinge during the early scenes—and doesn’t pull any punches with its depiction of the treatments or its characters. Milly doesn’t become the poor sainted cancer victim we’ve seen in other films, instead she stays true to the character we met at the film’s start, likeable but not always loveable. Collette keeps it real as she works through the stages of the disease.
Barrymore brings her usual warmth and amiability but the real star is the portrayal of the effect of cancer on its victim, friends and family. “Miss You Already” captures the frustration and sadness inherent to the process but also the humour. “I look like a leopard,” Milly says as her thinning hair is shaved off. “A leper or a leopard?” replies her hairdresser.
“Miss You Already” has moments clearly designed to open the tear ducts but for the most part director Catherine Hardwicke doesn’t get maudlin, treating the material with respect but not with kid gloves.
“Tyrannosaur,” a new drama from actor-turned-director-and-writer Paddy Considine—best known for his work in films like “In America” and “24 Hour Party People”—is a grim but compelling look at a man hell bent on destruction, until he meets a woman who gives him a glimmer of hope.
I know, it sounds like the kind of thing we’ve seen a million times before, but Considine’s camera is so unflinching in showing the details of this man’s descent and devastating search for redemption that it makes the movie a singular experience.
It takes a special kind of movie to start with the killing of a dog… and then get harsher from there but “Tyrannosaur” does, and in doing so paints a harrowing portrait of the cycle of violence that has so stained its protagonist.
Joseph (Scottish character actor Peter Mullen, currently also on screen in “War Horse”) is a deeply damaged man. A widower and a drunk, he is the product of abuse, guilt ridden and prone to rages. “I’m not a nice human being,” he says, which may be the understatement of the new century. By contrast, Hannah (Olivia Colman), a worker in a nearby charity shop who befriends Joseph, is sweetness and light, but hides a terrible secret; she is abused by her bully husband James (Eddie Marsan).
Considine, who based this screenplay on his award winning short film “Dog Altogether,” weaves their stories into one, creating a character study and a look at class in Britain—highlighting the differences and similarities of working class Joseph to James’s middle class life.
It’s a grim task, but the result is spectacular for viewers with the stomach for it. He cuts no corners, avoids easy sentiment or resolutions but is aided ably by his cast. Mullen’s tight grimace says more than most of the lines of dialogue about Joseph, while Marsden is an unsettling presence, but it is Colman who dominates.
Best known as a comic actress—her credits include “Hot Fuzz” and the Britcom “Beautiful People”—she is utterly authentic—desperate and heartbreaking— in every frame handing in one of the great under appreciated performances of the year.
“Tyrannosaur” is a tragically beautiful film It’s not a journey everyone is going to want to take, but it’s a rewarding one for those who go along for the ride.
