Under Milk Wood
Poetry in motion.
In Kevin Allen’s adapt ation of Dylan Thomas’ 1954 radio play, Under Milk Wood, the fantasies of dwellers in the Welsh village of Llareggub (‘Bugger all’ backwards) provide a bawdy ’50s-set buffet for the eyes and ears. To unpeel it from Richard Burton’s richly-voiced radio version (and the clunky 1972 film he starred in), Allen has to create moving images as potent as Thomas’ poetic ones, for a vast cast of characters. But he and co-writer poet Murray Lachlan Young succeed only with the sturdiest of their gamey vignettes – Mr Pugh (Boyd Clack) the tangoing wife-poisoner, the hopeless letter-borne love of draper for confectioner, or Mrs Ogmore Pritchard’s S&M memories of torturing her husbands.
Alongside these slyly enjoyable ‘Carry On Cymru’ interludes, though, there’s a fair amount of sub-Ken Russell tits-and-landscape surrealism thrown in, all to keep your peepers occupied during rolling orations about “the sloeblack, slow black, crowblack, fishingboat-bobbing sea”. However, the cheerful gloss of sex on everything from Dai Baker’s breast-shaped bread to Sinbad the publican’s satyr fantasies doesn’t solve all the film’s problems and, an hour in, it can get a little tedious, more seaside postcard than sensual symbolism.
The problem is, the play is a looping mass of lusty private longings, and Allen struggles to translate that into a solid cinematic story. Yet it’s full of engaging details, as oddball sequences parade in popping colours through striking Pembrokeshire scenery. Allen also makes smart use of Charlotte Church’s star wattage as village good-time girl Polly Garter, shoehorning in a Hollywoodstyle ballad to add glamour to the eccentric gaiety. Worth the seat price alone, however, is Rhys Ifans, veteran of Allen’s long-ago Trainspotting- lite comedy Twin Town. Ifans’ mellifluous, unshowy narration and restrained performance as blind dreamer Captain Cat make the ripe language leap suddenly to life.
THE VERDICT Kevin Allen and Rhys Ifans’ colourful, carnal but careful reboot ensures that Thomas’ richly-written dreamscape doesn’t go for a Burton. And Welsh warbler Charlotte Church finds herself in good company… › Certificate 15 Director Kevin Allen Starring Rhys Ifans, Charlotte Church, William Thomas, Julian Lewis Jones Screenplay Kevin Allen, Michael Breen, Murray Lachlan Young Distributor Metrodome Running Time 87 mins