Filmworld
'What We Did On Our Holiday' - Good family entertainer
By
By Troy RibeiroFilm: "What We Did On Our Holiday"; Cast: Rosamund Pike, David Tennant,
Billy Connolly, Ben Miller, Amelia Bullmore, Emilia Jones, Bobby
Smalldridge, Celia Imire, Annette Crosbie and Harriet Turnbull;
Directors: Andy Hamilton, Guy Jenkin; Rating: ***
Released under
the PVR Director's Rare banner, this BBC Film, a light-hearted
tragicomedy is directed by writer-directors Andy Hamilton and Guy
Jenkin. It is replete with bright picturesque frames, quirky characters,
snappy retorts and situational gags.
After being involved in an
extramarital affair, Doug Mcleon (David Tennant) and his wife Abby
(Rosamund Pike) have always been at loggerheads. Their discussions
always lead to a fight.
Seeing their parents constantly
bickering, the couple's three children - Lottie (Emilia Jones), Mickey
(Bobby Smalldridge) and Jess (Harriet Turnbull)- have developed their
own mechanism to cope with the situation. Lottie maintains a notebook
where she notes the lies told to her; Mickey indulges in Viking lore,
and Jess has animated conversations with rocks and stones.
Doug's
dad, Gordie (Billy Connolly) is a cancer patient, living with Doug's
older, nouveau-riche brother Gavin (Ben Miller) in western Scotland. On
his approaching 75th birthday, Doug decides to visit him along with his
family. Concerned that his father is in a precarious condition, he
insists on keeping their dysfunctional family status under wraps. But
with the children around, that's a Herculean task. This, along with an
unprecedented event, forms the crux of the narration.
The three
children, with their spontaneous, honest and off-the-cuff responses,
steal the show from their adult counterparts. They get along well with
their grandfather and have some memorable moments on the beach with him
discussing life, loss, lying and honesty.
David Tennant and
Rosamund Pike play the perfect bickering couple. While David is his
usual self, Rosamund is far less evocative from her role as Amy Elliot
in "Gone Girl". That's because unlike in "Gone Girl", where she had an
author-backed role, here her part is a perfect foil character and she
delivers it with conviction.
They are flawlessly supported by Ben Miller, Billy Connolly, Celia Imrie as Ben's wife and Annette Crosbie as Gordie's friend.
As
a family-oriented film, the plot takes off on an innocuous path that is
heartwarming and funny. But by the time it reaches the mid-point, a
tragic twist turns the scales of the tone of narration and soon the plot
disintegrates into an un-relatable pulp fiction which is nevertheless,
enjoyable.
It is director of photography Martin Hawkins' wide
angle lens which captures the natural landscapes of Scotland that helps
the film's director duo, who had earlier done television sitcoms for
BBC, to graduate to the big screen. Otherwise, this film would have just
been an extension of the sitcoms they had earlier done.
The occasional ostriches flittering across the screen has an intrigue value which remains unsolved till the end of the film.
Ironically, at the end of this film, one of the characters perfectly summarises, "We are all ridiculous and nothing matters".
So, just watch this film for its entertaining quotient.