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Tyrannosaur

Wednesday, October 16, 2013 – 7:30pm
Great Britain 2011. Director: Paddy Considine 
Cast: Peter Mullan, Olivia Colman, Eddie Marsan, Ned Dennehy, Sally Carman

SeIn his first feature as a writer-director, British actor Paddy Considine plumbs the depths of human fallibility (not to mention his own straitened childhood on a Midlands council estate) in an auspicious debut that references the “kitchen-sink” realism of directors such as Ken Loach and Mike Leigh. Set in gritty blue-collar Leeds, Tyrannosaur stars Scottish actor Peter Mullan as Joseph, an unemployed, hard-drinking widower whose inchoate rage leads him to commit acts of unspeakable violence. One afternoon, on the run from a fight, Joseph ducks into the closest refuge — an empty thrift shop – where he meets Hannah (Olivia Colman) a gentle Christian woman who offers to pray for him. Convinced she is nothing but a smug middle-class do-gooder, Joseph angrily rebuffs her, yet finds himself drawn back to her shop the next day. A tentative friendship develops, one that is challenged when Joseph learns the truth about Hannah’s relationship with her abusive husband James (Eddie Marsan). From this least likely of places, a story of grace and possible redemption gradually emerges. “A visceral, considered dissection of abuse and rage … The performances of Mullan, Colman, and Marsan are excellent and create a compelling human drama” (Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian). Colour, HDCAM. 92 mins. 

Warning: Contains scenes that may be upsetting to sensitive viewers.

Post-screening discussion with Joanne Baker, PhD, Manager of Special Programs and Projects at the Ending Violence Association of British Columbia. Dr. Baker has worked for anti-violence organizations in the U.K., Australia, and Canada and as a social policy and social work academic at three Australian universities.

Moderated by Dr. Harry Karlinsky, Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia.

Co-sponsored by the Ending Violence Association of British Columbia (EVA BC), a charitable, non-profit organization that provides services to over 200 funded anti-violence programs across the province.

REVIEWS

“The principals are superb, with Mullan and Colman doing a masterful job of inhabiting their separate but equal prisons.”

Globe and Mail | full review

“It’s hard to watch at times, though made with an intensity and artfulness you never for a moment doubt.”

Independent | full review

“Vivid, bruising and electrifying.”

Little White Lies | full review