As sequels go, me ol’ hearties, this one’s a real belter!
MATTHEW BOND Fisherman’s Friends: One And All
Cert: 12A, 1hr 52mins
★★★★★
I Came By
Cert: 15, 1hr 50mins
★★★★★
The Feast
Cert: 18, 1hr 33mins
★★★★★
My Old School
Cert: 15, 1hr 44mins
★★★★
Anaïs In Love
Cert: 15, 1hr 38mins ★★★★★
Break out the pea coats, chunky sweaters and bushy beards, for Fisherman’s Friends is back. Yes, three years after the unexpectedly successful film put the Cornish village of Port Isaac on the cinematic map and reminded us all that sea shanties are rather wonderful as long as there aren’t too many of them, the same team – more or less – is back with Fisherman’s Friends: One And All. And, as sequels go, me ol’ hearties, it’s terrific.
Picking up maybe a year or so after the first film left off, it’s obvious that fame, modest fortune and life on the road are beginning to catch up with the surviving members of the group. Jim (James Purefoy) is clearly drinking too much, the hitherto happily married Rowan (Sam Swainsbury) is developing an eye for the ladies, and grizzled old Leadville (Dave Johns) is making lecherous passes at any female journalist foolish enough to laugh politely at his jokes.
‘I’m Leadville and I’m politically incorrect,’ he admits, as the whole group who, unknown to them, are
at risk of losing their hard-won record deal, are sent off for media training. The days of calling anyone ‘me darling’ or ‘my old maid’ are over, they are told firmly.
But grumpy Jim’s not having that. ‘We speak this way because we’re Cornish, not because we’re part of some patriarchal conspiracy,’ he complains, taking a swig from his hip flask and aiming another jibe at the reclusive Irish rock singer who’s just moved to the village. Shame – if he weren’t always halfcut and cross, he might see how pretty Aubrey (Imelda May) is.
And so the stage is set for a film that packs an impressive amount into its well-filled running time. There’s broad comedy, high drama and romance, too, despite the fact that the couple at the centre of the first film (Daniel Mays and Tuppence Middleton) are absent, conveniently packed off to Australia.
Look out for David Hayman, who played Jim’s father first time around and returns as his conscience-pricking ghost.
But this, first and foremost, is Purefoy’s picture. One And All may be lightweight, late-summer fun, but it’s his nomination-grabbingly good turn (yes, seriously) that ensures it hits every single one of its big emotional moments as our story heads to Glastonbury and we all remember how good sea-shanties sound when perfectly mixed and blasted out through cinema speakers. The result is surprisingly emotional and hugely enjoyable.
In I Came By, George MacKay plays an unlikeable young graffiti artist who specialises in breaking into the homes of the wealthy, stealing nothing but leaving an ominous ‘tag’ on the walls: ‘I came by.’
But when he breaks into the house of a former judge (Hugh Bonneville) and discovers something nasty in the basement, we’re heading off in a different direction altogether in a thriller that never quite delivers on its initial promise and doesn’t really merit the limited cinema release it’s getting before heading to Netflix on August 31.
Anyone who enjoyed the recent Scottish horror She Will should love The Feast, a Welsh-language chiller in the same vein, albeit with an environmental subtext. A wealthy family are preparing for a dinner party, but there’s something strange about Cadi, the young woman helping with the preparations. Nia Roberts and Annes Elwy, as Cadi, are both excellent.
If you don’t remember the strange story of Brandon Lee, the Scottish ‘schoolboy’ who in 1995 turned out to be 32, then Jono McLeod’s documentary My Old School, a blend of conventional interviews and some fabulous animation, starring Alan Cumming, is a wonderful reminder.
Finally, if you like French films where attractive women rush around Paris conducting adulterous affairs before heading off to the countryside to cause even more matrimonial chaos, then Anaïs In Love, starring Anaïs Demoustier and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, is for you. So French it almost hurts.