A GREAT FILM YOU HAVE PROBABLY NEVER SEEN:
Week 2: tryannosaur
This week’s feature is on Paddy Considine’s first feature length film ‘Tyrannosaur’. Unlike last week’s great film you have probably never seen before: ‘stitches’, which was riotously fun and ridiculously gory, this week’s edition is cold, dark and thoroughly depressing.
Tyrannosaur focuses on Joe, a widower, who is a bitter man fuelled by rage and alcohol. His life is going no where and he knows it but no matter how hard he tries he is unable to escape the brutal anger which engulfs him.
One day, to escape the trouble filled world which he created for himself, he seeks refuge in a charity shop and after several revisits, gradually befriends the store owner Hannah. She's a softly spoken devout Christian and, on the surface, the polar opposite of Joe. Despite Joe’s rudeness and unwillingness to open up, she does not give in until she has broken through his defensive guards and gotten through to the real him.
This may be reading like your typical soppy love story but, in fact, a number of weaving subplots and twists make this film truly special. Hannah is married to an abusive and violent husband whose behaviour, along with many other trials and tribulations Joe has to undergo throughout the film, constantly catapult Joe back into the throes of the hate filled life he is so desperate to escape.
Hannah, herself, is just as an interesting character as Joe. She creates an entire set of reasoning and logic to explain why she tolerates the abuse and humiliation she endures daily. She gives her life to God, perhaps in hope of a better after life or even perhaps to make her cowardly nature come across as a forgiving nature.
Admittedly, the film is a very difficult watch and contains some absolutely brutal and horrific scenes including one very graphic scene in which Joe takes his rage out on his pet dog. There are very few glimmers of happiness and the almost documentary-like way in which the movie is shot and acted adds to the despair. There are no special effects or attractive A list actors here, just an honest portrayal of what life can be like for those who truly struggle, all set against the backdrop of North England’s council estates.
This review may seem very off putting but the character development is truly amazing making you honestly care what happens to these people, almost as if they were your own family. You wish you could do something to help them but there is nothing you can do (often, very much like in real life). It may not be everyone’s cup of tea and the brutal realism of the depicted violence and abuse might be difficult for even the most avid extreme cinema fans to stomach but if you want something that really engages you with the story and the characters then I highly recommend 'Tyrannosaur'.
Written by Matt Watkins
published 19/09/2013
Tyrannosaur focuses on Joe, a widower, who is a bitter man fuelled by rage and alcohol. His life is going no where and he knows it but no matter how hard he tries he is unable to escape the brutal anger which engulfs him.
One day, to escape the trouble filled world which he created for himself, he seeks refuge in a charity shop and after several revisits, gradually befriends the store owner Hannah. She's a softly spoken devout Christian and, on the surface, the polar opposite of Joe. Despite Joe’s rudeness and unwillingness to open up, she does not give in until she has broken through his defensive guards and gotten through to the real him.
This may be reading like your typical soppy love story but, in fact, a number of weaving subplots and twists make this film truly special. Hannah is married to an abusive and violent husband whose behaviour, along with many other trials and tribulations Joe has to undergo throughout the film, constantly catapult Joe back into the throes of the hate filled life he is so desperate to escape.
Hannah, herself, is just as an interesting character as Joe. She creates an entire set of reasoning and logic to explain why she tolerates the abuse and humiliation she endures daily. She gives her life to God, perhaps in hope of a better after life or even perhaps to make her cowardly nature come across as a forgiving nature.
Admittedly, the film is a very difficult watch and contains some absolutely brutal and horrific scenes including one very graphic scene in which Joe takes his rage out on his pet dog. There are very few glimmers of happiness and the almost documentary-like way in which the movie is shot and acted adds to the despair. There are no special effects or attractive A list actors here, just an honest portrayal of what life can be like for those who truly struggle, all set against the backdrop of North England’s council estates.
This review may seem very off putting but the character development is truly amazing making you honestly care what happens to these people, almost as if they were your own family. You wish you could do something to help them but there is nothing you can do (often, very much like in real life). It may not be everyone’s cup of tea and the brutal realism of the depicted violence and abuse might be difficult for even the most avid extreme cinema fans to stomach but if you want something that really engages you with the story and the characters then I highly recommend 'Tyrannosaur'.
Written by Matt Watkins
published 19/09/2013
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