Brassed Off (Herman, 1996): Genesis Cinema, 6.20pm
A season of films celebrating the diverse experience of working class lives, with four landmark movies in the “Social Realism” tradition starts tonight at the Genesis with this underrated British movie.
There will be a post-screening Q&A with director Mark Herman
Time Out review:
This is an angry, tragic film, which softens you up with a few
off-the-peg stereotypes and colloquial laughs and then rams them back
down your throat. Pete Postlethwaite is Danny, the devoted leader of the
Grimley Colliery Band. Music is so important to him, he barely notices
that the pit's on the verge of closure, and can't begin to understand
why members like Andy (Ewan McGregor), Harry (Jim Carter) and even his own son,
Phil (Stephen Tompkinson), are finding it hard to cough up their subs. Matters
come to a head with the band competing in the national championships and
the miners voting for voluntary redundancy. Writer/director Herman
pulls off a popular, proletarian comedy which might actually appeal to
the people it's about. He uses comic shorthand - not all the
relationships are as developed as they might be - but captures a
credible sense of the tensions within the community at large, and the
devastating impact of the pit closures. He's not shy about laying the
blame, either. Tompkinson, Postlethwaite and Carter are stand-outs in an
impressive ensemble cast, but for many, the brass band music will come
as the real revelation.
Tom Charity
No comments:
Post a Comment