Robert Carlyle directs and stars in a Glaswegian's answer to a Tarantino film!
Barney Thomson is an awkward, single and sheltered 50-something barber living in Glasgow in Scotland with an overbearing mother. His life has been uneventful and he's happy with that, but when he's involved in an accident that kills his boss and simultaneously the police are looking for a serial killer... his life is about to go off the rails.
The Legend of Barney Thomson is a love or hate situation for the wider audience, but that is common for most black comedies. I personally found it entertaining enough, but I cannot say I laughed a great deal; it has incredibly dry humour, and a little bit repetitive over the course of the movie. When I reflect on it I imagine it like a long macabre Monty Python sketch.
Robert Carlyle is very good in the lead role as Barney Thomson, who we are introduced as a man to be avoided in this barber shop: "You look like a haunted tree" explains his boss, and he really does! But as the film goes on we see him as a very timid shut-in, and Carlyle portrayed it perfectly, especially as the odds are stacked so heavily against him. Alongside him is Emma Thompson as his mother (though one questions the age gap between the actors themselves) a woman who wants nothing to do with him apart from use him any way she can to go on parties with her friends, and Ray Winstone as a bitter, grudge-ridden police officer on the verge of breakdown. The three of them are actually very good in their roles, and I say that as someone who generally doesn't care for Winstone in most of his roles.
But while the actors look like they are having a good time, and it is great to see familiar "everyday" Glasgow streets specifically around the Bridgeton area, for a black comedy it didn't feel especially funny or even quotable. It has swearing, a lot of swearing, and a lot of Glaswegian (poor Americans may need subtitles!) to promote its humour. There were a couple of laughs, but for me it got a little repetitive as time went on, and it certainly jumps the shark for good measure at its climax. Where did that come from?
At best it is a curiosity as Carlyle's debut in the director's chair, but even as I write this review I consider it entertaining but intensely cliched and repetitive.
Brave is probably one of the simpler outings from Pixar, but it is very easy on the eyes and strikes a nice balance of fun and maturity.
Merida is a Scottish princess whose wild, playful, adventurous nature is completely smothered with her mother's idea of what a princess should be. When their strife gets the better of them, Merida seeks aid from a mysterious old woman living in the forest to "change her mother" and settle the argument.
Bar one exception (cough, Cars 2) Pixar is one studio that consistently excels both in storytelling and visual flare, and one can easily set the bar far higher when judging their products and root out any flaws... Brave is a simple tale compared to the other more "sprawling" stories, and feels like a short hundred minutes, but it makes up for this with having a big heart, immensely likeable characters, beautiful animation and a surprisingly dark, sometimes sinister tone.
That's right, there's a lot of mystery and magic in Brave's story (and in its PR; seriously I knew very little going into it) and some of the younger audience, especially the very little, might find it scary and confusing in an emotional manner. While it isn't as heart-wrenching as UP, its emotional strife is more around family, family conflict and misunderstanding. It is a great twist on what could have been another Disney princess story.
That's all the adult stuff, there is plenty for the kids too! While Brave has some terrific scares, it has some good slapstick fights and chase scenes that don't feel as abrasive as UP's. Merida's three younger brothers are a hoot, and frankly all of the characters are instantly likeable. Yes, the Scottish accents are insanely thick (sometimes deliberately undecipherable!) but as a Scot, I wasn't offended, in fact I was impressed with the vocabulary that Pixar was dishing out. It gave the film a happy-go-lucky, heart-over-mind charm.
Overall, if you don't expect too much, Brave is an excellent family animation with "family" at its core. Simple, but has something for everyone.
Additional Marshmallows: It should be added; this is very much Merida's story, there's no love story crammed in, no charming prince, which was refreshing!
