By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Rachel Tunnard
Starring: Brett Goldstein | Eileen Davies | Jodie Whittaker | Lorraine Ashbourne | Rachael Deering
Country: united_kingdom
Year: 2019
Running time: 96
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4211044/reference
Michael says: “Here’s a beautiful and sad movie about a woman about to turn 30, who can’t move on with her life after her twin brother dies. She has taken up residence in the shed at the bottom of her mother’s garden making videos of her thumbs as astronauts traveling through space toward the sun. Despite the good cop/bad cop routine from her nan and her mom, trying to get her to live again, Anna can’t figure out how to move on. Enter Clint, a young boy from next door, whose father is away on a job, and whose mother is dying of cancer. Clint fixates on Anna, and begins following around and insinuating himself into her living space when his mom is hospitalized again. There’s also Brendan, Anna’s awkward co-worker who secretly pines for her, even though she thinks he’s gay. There are some heartbreaking moments, with Clint trying to connect with Anna, but she just can’t get past her own grief to notice this young boy who desperately needs her to take notice of him; or when Anna asked Brendan if she’s still a twin her her twin is dead.
“Written and directed by Rachel Tunnard a British editor, ADULT LIFE SKILLS is a first feature. Rachel teams with cinematographer Bet Rourich to make a gorgeously shot film, with some truly artistically shot scenes of ordinary life. Brett Goldstein is endearing and beautifully soft-spoken yet quirky as the socially awkward Brendan, and Ozzy Myers is quite a find as the unbearably adorable Clint in his only film credit to date. But the film succeeds largely on the merit of Jodie Whitaker as Anna, and she carries it beautifully, maintaining a sadness that’s almost unbearable without being depressing. She’s a woman going through the motions, trying to survive, but not knowing how. Whitaker also manages to be funny AND remain sympathetic, even as we want her to find her way, or reach out to Clint… but everything happens at its own pace, and while this film is particularly quiet and leisurely, it all feels right. The one flaw was the over-reliance on pop songs to convey mood. While the music well well-selected, I do feel it was overused and was occasionally distracting. Still, it’s a lovely, small story that I highly recommend. 4 cats”
Julie says: “This is buried treasure eligible and worthy of a watch. There were some truly funny and heart felt moment in this one. Plus a nice family dynamic. I liked this much more than the critics at Rotten Tomatoes did. It’s the extended version of the award winning BAFTA nominated short Emotional Fusebox. The film premiered at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival in April 2016 winning one of the top awards – the Nora Ephron price for best female director. It was released in US theaters in 2019.
“A partial snippet of a review on imdb without spoiling anything, seen in first 30 seconds of the movie: ‘Anna is stuck: she’s approaching 30, living like a hermit in her mums garden shed and wondering why the suffragettes ever bothered. She spends her days making videos using her thumbs as actors thumbs that bicker about things like whether Yogi Bear is a moral or existential nihilist. But Anna doesnt show these videos to anyone and no one knows what they are for.’
“Jodie Whittaker and Ozzy Meyers put in nom worthy perfs. Best ensemble cast comes to mind for this movie when looking through the rest of the names to mention for solid perfs. All were solid and worked well together, especially the mother, mother’s mother, and Anna’s friend Brendan.
“I loved one song and use of music re that song that I had to look up after the movie: ‘Jesus came to my birthday party’. But the rest of the music, what there was of it, was perhaps not so good as I recall (or can’t recall as is more the case at this point). 4 cats“
I’m watching it again after seeing it for the first time last night. So many little points have new meaning.
I don’t think this is a sad film at all. We know there will be closure and a lot of people will grow up happy.
The whole cast are loving gentle people and this film deserve to become a classic. With a car chase. It does have a kiss.