RAMS

OUT 5 FEBRUARY (DIGITAL) / CERT TBC / 119 MINS DIRECTOR Jeremy Sims CAST Sam Neill, Michael Caton, Miranda Richardson

Set in a sun-kissed Mount Barker, New Zealand, Rams, a remake of Grímur Hákonarson’s Icelandic comedy, focuses on two sheep-loving farmers, Colin (Sam Neill) and Les (Michael Caton), brothers who have not spoken for 40 years. A fatal strain of sheep flu kills part of Les’ flock, making a reconciliation imperative. It may lack the toughness and tonal fluidity of the original, but Rams is a gentle, likeable comedy in that Antipodean mode, flitting between low comedy (Colin herding sheep through his living room), a half-baked romance and more dramatic stretches. Caton embodies (but doesn’t illuminate) a drunk, itinerant farmer, leaving Neill to carry the picture’s laughs and heart.