A small indie movie with David Tennant and Rosamund Pike (and Billy Connolly, let's not forget), What We Did on Our Holiday seemed a lot to me. My expectations were a bit high, for sure, and that alone is not a good omen regarding movies (and other important things in life).
British movies usually approach sentimental matter in a funny, captivating, scathing, ironic manner. I like that a lot, and not by chance one of my favorites movies is Death at a Funeral, a hysteric and lovely comedy about familiar dynamics. But What We Did lacked something to me, despite I'm being able to relate to its sweet view about family liaisons, death and empathy to others' struggles. This last one is very difficult between relatives, amazing as it seems. Because family members would be the best to understand their relatives. But it is not like that, we know it - with a few beautiful exceptions in every family, fortunately.
There's something about institutionalizing an individual that is very perverse. This feature is more visible in work environment, but it is ever present in every family. Fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, daughters, sons, brothers, sisters, in laws... sometimes they forget that the one near them are a person, not just a role in the familiar affairs. The vital importance of remembering that is the main plot here. It is funny, heartwarming, ironic, painful, through characters well presented, especially the three younger kids (they absolutely amazing, actually). But I felt that the way they realize how they could be so much more understanding and helping toward their relatives was a bit forced, and a little too sentimental for my taste.
When I turned off the TV, I felt kind of disappointed with a nice sweet movie that could have been placed a octave above the note it was conformed since the beginning, despite the many endearing and inovative aspects on this story.
| Those three <3 |
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| What We Did on Our Holiday. Directed and written by Andy Hamilton, Guy Jenkin. With: David Tennant, Rosamund Pike, Emilia Jones, Bobby Smalldridge, Harriet Turnbull, Billy Connolly. UK, 2014, 95 min., Color (Netflix). |
I gotta say, I get scared away by this movie's poster. I look at it and I immediately don't want to see it. It makes it look like a silly comedy, despite the good cast. Funny, the power of imagery.
ReplyDeleteI too love Death at a funeral, I guess that's how everyone that's ever seen it feels about it. If you'd said this one had a similar tune, I'd probably give it a shot, but given its true review, I'll just give this one a pass.
Thanks :)
[ j ]