Films > DVD Reviews

Tyrannosaur

10/02/12

Paddy Considine is hitherto known for his screen-stealing roles in films such as Shane Meadows’ excellent Dead Man’s Shoes. Tyrannosaur is his debut as writer/director, and an extraordinary debut it is.

Its central themes of anger, abuse and redemption are explored through the interwoven voyages of two disparate characters. Joseph (Peter Mullan) is an ageing widower, struggling with profound anger issues on a violent Northern estate. Hannah (Olivia Coleman) is an ostensibly well-to-do Christian charity-shop worker, but is quietly enduring appalling abuse at the hands of her repellent husband James (Eddie Marsan). A chance meeting between the two results in an unlikely friendship and propels their lives in new directions, with cataclysmic results.

Given the subject matter it would be easy for the film to descend into nihilism, but it never does. As a study of anger it is intelligent and unapologetic. As a depiction of domestic abuse it is shocking but never gratuitous. Most importantly, as a story it is utterly compelling.

The film never does our thinking for us. It deftly avoids judgementalism and at every turn our sympathies are challenged, realigned and challenged again. This serves to make the shocking denouement all the more satisfying.

Comparisons to the work of Shane Meadows and Mike Leigh may be lazy, but they are, for me at least, unavoidable, and entirely positive, the most obvious being the quality of performance Considine captures from his cast.

Mullan’s Joseph is complex, nuanced and powerful, and Marsan’s James is believably vile. But if these are the brains and brawn of the piece then Colman’s Hannah is its heart. Known primarily for her comedy roles, here she gives a breathtaking performance which is warm, real and fierce.

I’ll cut to the chase; It is a remarkable debut. I urge you to see it. 

Jay Freeman