The Legend of Barney Thomson
Cast: Robert Carlyle, Emma Thompson, Ray Winstone, Ashley Jensen, Tom Courtenay
Director: Robert Carlyle
96 mins
Robert Caryle’s career is a cinematic vicissitude, as he has veered from the semi-surreal quirkiness of the criminally undervalued “Hamish MacBeth”, through the visceral “Trainspotting” to the joyous vivacity of “The Full Monty” but with a few iffy titles best-avoided outings along the way. Here he now parks his Glaswegian bahookie in the canvas chair of cinema helmer, with his directorial debut “The Legend Of Barney Thomson”.
I’ve a great deal of time for Carlyle and have always respected and admired his approach, persona and talent without quibble. However, although his film certainly offers flair and garish visual finesse, into the mix has gone a bamboozling array of ingredients, not all of which fully ehance the final screen dish. In truth, it’s an ugly pot pourri of black humour, violence, emotional pulls and a fairly thin, not to say hackneyed plot device. The characters are either underdeveloped or ludicrously over-egged and the resultant ensemble acting is both poor and hammy in varying degrees. A lot has been made of Emma Thompson’s portrayal of the protagonist’s alcoholic, smoke-fuelled fish supper devouring hag of a mother. However despite the quite ridiculously obvious prosthetics, there’s no getting away from this being ‘there’s that actress Emma Thompson!’ on the screen, so suspension of disbelief, authenticity and credibility are bound to be left well behind when the director asks his very famous pals to participate in his film when talented unknowns could have made this considerably more appealing. This particularly applies in spades to Ray Winstone, who in his role as a London rozzer in Glasgow’s East End, looks as comfortable as Stephen Hawking in a hula-hoop competition.
Carlyle himself simply can’t seem to summon up the correct persona for his leading role. There is no likeability, disdain, sympathy or love for Barney, so we are left in a limbo of apathy which destroys the whole point of the project. The usual array of Glasgow’s iconic images are all there, almost as a supporting cast (Barrowlands, Templeton, Sarry Heid etc) but in the final analysis, although the story of Barney Thomson may be inferred the status of Legend, sadly the film will never achieve that accolade.
Writer/Director: Joel Edgerton
108 mins
With the encroachment powers of social media and the ever-decreasing sense of privacy, almost everyone’s current status and location is out there and available at the touch of a mouse/keyboard or smartphone swipe. Creepily, those tedious, unsavoury people whom you’d wiped from your personal memory, mainly by choice, from childhood or school are more than able to ‘accidentally’ track you down and bump into you. If by now you’ve a relatively settled life and felt no need to bore your current partner with details of those nondescript individuals from decades ago – what might happen if one of them suddenly re-appears and gives your other half the distinct impression he or she is actually quite a nice person, when you would gladly give them a berth as wide as the Grand Canyon? This is the dilemma neatly explored here in "The Gift".
An impressive writing and directorial debut from cast member Joel Edgerton, the film is told from the perspective of (Jason Bateman)/Simon’s wife, Robyn (Rebecca Hall). They’ve just moved from Chicago to Los Angeles for Simon’s new job at a successful digital security firm. Apparently Simon is from Southern California, but somewhat deliberately, he hasn’t lived there for quite some time. One day they’re out shopping when a slightly ill-at-ease individual approaches them. This is Simon's old classmate, Gordo. Simon claims to barely recognise Gordo, and in an inherently awkward confrontation Gordo provides his phone number whilst insisting on helping them get settled in their new location as best he can. Next day the couple find a gift on their doorstep and are quite startled to find it's from Gordo, and that he has managed to get their address. As a result however, they reluctantly decide to ask him over for a thank-you dinner. There it begins - a series of awkward confrontations between the overly hospitable stranger and a husband and wife who have a few secrets of their own as well as from each other. Edgerton shows moments of quite masterful writing and direction as he plays around with conventional expectations, smartly emphasising the couple’s discomfort as they try to figure out just what exactly is going on. He is also astute enough to make us question if there is anything really wrong with Gordo to begin with, or is it in fact Simon who carries the burden of a deep dark secret, thus making the film something of an unexpected surprise.
Rebecca Hall is undoubtedly the glue that makes Edgerton’s puzzle fit together. Her character’s perspective and emotional arc makes sure that all the twists and turns are highly credible. Bateman’s laid-back approach benefits his part beautifully too while Edgerton’s turn as the man from the past stays the right side of caricature throughout.
