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.
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.
“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