Better Things
Director: Duane Hopkins
Cert: 15
Time: 1 hr 33 mins
The blurb describes this film as a multi-narrative drama about everyday life in small town England. A young couple reeling against a first love gone wrong. The funeral of a dead drug addict and her ex boyfriend, himself addicted to heroin. An elderly couple who rarely talk, because of a long held animosity. In and of themselves these subjects have some potential but the dialogue is so sparse and the story lines so limited that we learn very little. To fill the gaps the director, Duane Hopkins, places an over reliance on arty shots of miserable people often sitting amidst beautiful countryside. The message, if there is one, is that living miserable lives is not the preserve of those in the big city.
Never have I watched a film in which nobody ever smiles, says something kind or does something positive. From beginning to end it is dirge in celluloid form trying to be something that it is not; good cinema.
Rating: 1/5
Patrons: 6
CA
