di Olga Korotkaya

The Arbour

Artist and film-maker Clio Barnard has artistically incorporated documentary and fiction in his portrayal of the life and legacy of Bradford based playwright Andrea Dunbar, best known for The Arbor (1980) and Rita, Sue and Bob Too (1982). In the cold light of reality, this film documents Dunbar’s early life of drug and alcohol fuelled writing and the subsequent suffering of three children that she left behind, dying from an alcohol induced brain haemorrhage in 1990 aged just 29. Particular attention is given to Lorraine, Dunbar’s first daughter. As a mixed race child growing up on a rough Bradford estate, Lorraine’s suffering is at times difficult to comprehend, particularly when it comes directly from her own mother. Lorraine’s childhood recollection of overhearing her mother’s inability to love her as her own child due to her skin colour is a memory which continues to haunt the young woman today.

Following Dunbar’s death, Lorraine’s desperate resort drink and drugs predictably and distressingly takes her down her mother’s own destructive path. She is soon out of control and is only able to overcome her dependence on cocaine and heroin when brutally forced to accept the consequences of her actions with the tragic death of her own two year old son.

In The Arbour, an extremely dark and depressing story is told with a remarkably refreshing style that stretches and blurs the boundaries between documentary and realist fiction. Somehow Barnard’s film is simultaneously all fact and all fiction. Aside from a few archive clips showing the Dunbar family in the early 80s, Barnard has chosen actors to portray the family and close friends of the playwright. However, as is explained at the beginning of the film, all of the voices heard are those of the real people – the actors lip sync over the top. With this innovative technique, Barnard dramatizes the true story without compromising the facts. This is the director’s effort to tell the story most effectively, and her achievement is a triumph.

The quality of Barnard’s portrayal of these events lies in her ability to build such a complete picture. In similar fashion to Shane Meadows who has found recent success in his work portraying the streets of Nottingham during the same decade, Dunbar strikes a perfect balance between intense interior interviews and wonderfully crafted external scenes on the estate. In brilliantly metatheatrical moments, a group of actors re-enact scenes from Dunbar’s own play on the estate where they were set whilst the (presumably genuine) locals watch from the surrounding streets and windows.

The lip synching technique is by no means faultless, but those who have criticised Barnard for her decision not to use the real subjects in her film have missed the point. This is a dramatization and cannot be contained as purely documentary. The power of The Arbour is in Barnard’s artistic vision to recreate the realism of documentary through the medium of performance. In doing this, Barnard achieves the dramatic realism that Dunbar herself managed to do through her writing.

never let me go

Mark Romanek’s Never Let Me Go is likely to be in the conversation for several awards come Oscar season.  This ambitious and eloquent piece features excellent acting, restrained and beautiful direction that pairs with a challenging and touching story.

Carey Mulligan stars as Kathy H., serving as both as a narrator to the film and lead to a story that will level you in its depth of cruel emotion.  Kathy falls in love with Tommy, back during their childhood at the boarding school Hailsham where she, Tommy and Ruth form an uncommon bond that will last a lifetime.

When newcomer Miss Lucy (Sally Hawkins) is assigned to teach, she opens the students eyes and openly questions how the school is run, resulting in her ultimate dismissal.  But what she unveils is an extinction level event for the story that has unfolded to that point in the film.  The balance of the film takes us deeper into the lives of the three students and their love for one another as they discover more about Hailsham, their relationships and their depths of their souls.

This is an incredible love story and while that portion of the film is not unique, it is told in an original fashion with a wildly unique backdrop.  There is poetry in Alex Garland’s script and Isihiguro’s story that is beautifully rendered on screen by Romanek and his fine cast.

While Mulligan is the standout star, new Spiderman to be Andrew Garfield compels as an off-kilter boy and Keira Knightley’s jealous sexpot is well-rounded.  Romanek’s delicate direction allows the actors to shine and elevates the sometimes bleak material to poetic, artistic expression.  The young actors who play the stars in their younger years, often insignificant, almost throwaway roles, really have an opportunity to flesh out their characters and generally look strikingly similar to their grown counterparts.  Expert casting here.

Romanek, who hasn’t directed since the failed Robin Williams’ creep-fest One Hour Photo, returns with a vengeance here, capturing all the poetry the story can handle while letting the actors perform naturally.  His shifting use of color strikes a strong counterbalance to the material, effectively easing the audience into the painful state where the characters reside.  This is mature filmmaking that will be in year-end awards discussions of some sort; I am confident in that.

The film has elements of science fiction and fantasy, but is deeply rooted in human emotion and interaction.  Kathy, Ruth and Tommy have complicated relationships within their seemingly simple and direct existences.  The overall message is that our time on earth is precious and whom we spend that time with is of paramount importance.  The film also offers up several questions to the viewer that might be revealed through its source material, Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2005 novel of the same name.

All in all, Never Let Me Go is not an easy film to digest.  Its neither mainstream nor uplifting, but it is compelling and thought-provoking and well worthy of your attention.  If they ever left, this serves notice that independent films are back – in a big way.

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