I was given these tickets by Sarah who couldn’t make it. It was at the Filmhouse rather than Cineworld. Summer was another premiere – and a lot of the cast members as well as the director and writer were in attendance.
This was another great film. About main character, Shaun (Robert Carlisle) and his reflection on things of the past while in the present he is caring for his best friend Daz, who is in a wheelchair and dying of liver failure.
I really enjoyed it – what I noted most was this was a film with hardly any dialogue but so much being said. There were lots and lots of silences but none of them awkward. There were also well structured flashbacks to particular events in both lives which help the audience appreciate how Shaun and Daz have ended up where they are.
It has moments of pure comedy and also tragedy. Shaun as a child struggled with the frustration of a learning disability, and the teenage Shaun (I think played by Sean Kelly) was amazing in portraying this – apparently this was his first time acting but I would have never guessed!
What was really liked was at the end of the film there was hope. Shaun has spent this period of time looking back at events that have led with him where he is but at the end of the film you really feel that he has finished his reminiscing and is now ready to move forward with a more positive future with renewed purpose and direction.
The questions and answers at the end were really interesting – Robert Carlisle demonstrated a real understanding of his character which was impressive and having the writer and director on stage discussing their use of silence as it’s own kind of dialogue was fascinating.
Great stuff!
Tags: EIFF, Robert Carlisle, Summer
