Opening 9 Jan 2025
Directed by:
John Crowley
Writing credits:
Nick Payne
Principal actors:
Andrew Garfield, Florence Pugh, Grace Delaney, Lee Braithwaite, Aoife Hinds
Tobias (Andrew Garfield) and Almut (Florence Pugh) meet under the most unusual of bizarre encounters. In their thirties, both have had their share of life experiences and are settled. Considering their personality differences—Almut is frank and focused, Tobias moderate and methodical—what is unexpected is they take a liking to one another. A lot. As circumstances and settings move and change depending on one or the other’s situation, Tobias and Almut learn to bend not break and give as well as take. At a joint family get-together, Reginald (Douglas Hodge) pitches in to help his son and over desert Sylvia (Niamh Cusack) lets slip daughter Almut’s other, unknown to Tobias, star performance. By the grace of genes, and possibly one of the funnies scenes in the film is the traffic stall that evolves into a trip to a petrol station where Jane (Kerry Godliman) and Sanjaya (Nikhil Parmar) prove their worth by providing good customer service. When a health crisis dictates otherwise, Tobias and Almut pull together and explain it to little Ella (Grace Delaney) in a way that the health challenge becomes a family affair. With grace, humor, and grit they ride it out.
Irish director John Crowley, with Nick Payne’s screenplay, sweet drama focuses on two individuals and how life is able to sideswipe the best laid plans. Separated into three time periods, the beginning, i.e., their meeting, middle, and now, heavier aspects e.g., the debilitating illness, the film is infused with humor that tempers the harshness reality indiscriminately dispenses. The acting is agreeable: Garfield tears up a lot, Pugh is tough, self-absorbed, and young Delaney is a scene-stealer. Justine Wright’s abrupt cuts are disconcerting, and other than the sets (Sarah Kane set decoration, Alice Normington production design) there are few facets to alert audiences to the many time-shifts in the film. By adding color tonality director of photography Stuart Bentley’s camerawork might have rectified that. For easy viewing entertainment, look no further and take tissues for good measure. (Marinell Haegelin)
