| RATING: | 60% |
| FORMAT: | DVD |
As a man’s life starts to get back on track, one of his estranged sons is becomes involved with illegal drugs. Yet, his relationship with his first wife improves as that with his son declines. As a father, all of these problems are caused by his various sins of omission and of commission. Inevitably, he finds that he has real friends who help with his coming-to-terms with his failures and successes.
Eric CANTONA’s charismatic presence as himself is an amusing gimmick that ultimately distracts from the story of a man piecing his life together like a moral jigsaw puzzle. Albeit that the ending is suitably hilarious and involves, among other things, Mr Cantona wearing an Eric Cantona fright mask.
Kenneth LOACH presents poor people as people and not as stereotypes. Blacks are also presented positively which, for a White filmmaker, is unusual. This, indeed, is his main contribution to cinema: Visual naturalism coupled with psychological realism.
Most drama is psychologically unrealistic because it is stereotypal rather than archetypal. Attempts are made to politically and culturally pigeonhole fictional characters to give vent to the political positions of the writers; while little is done to elucidate human nature, as such. In Loach’s work, the tail never wags the dog: Characters conform to archetypes and not our neurotic needs.
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