By Frances Atkinson
The Roses
Rating: MA 15+
Duration: 105mins
Director: Jay Roach
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Olivia Coleman, Andy Samberg, Allison Janney
Genre: Comedy
Opens: 4 September
Sparks fly when Theo, a talented architect (Benedict Cumberbatch) meets Ivy (Olivia Coleman), a promising London chef. Fuelled by an undeniable chemistry, the pair move to America and build a perfect life on the ruggedly beautiful Californian coast with their two kids, Hattie and Roy. But when a massive storm takes out Theo’s latest architectural masterpiece, fractures appear in their relationship too. As Ivy’s humble seafood restaurant (Got Crabs) takes off, Theo’s career crashes and burns. In ensuing years simmering resentments, petty peeves and envy take hold. Things improve slightly when Ivy suggests Theo channel his creative genius into building their dream home, perched high above the rolling seas of the Mendocino coast. Divorce becomes an inevitability, however.
While it doesn’t sound like the stuff of comedies, Cumberbatch and Coleman revel in their roles, lobbing bon mots, barbs and knives. The pace picks up – she drops live crabs into his bath; he burns her beloved first edition cookbooks – as do the laughs.
Directed by Jay Roach (better known for the Austin Power movies), The Roses is loosely based on the 1981 novel, The War of the Roses by Warren Adler, which was first made for the big screen in 1989 and starred winning trio: Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito. The cliché ‘true love never dies’ is severely tested in this dark comedy about a long-term relationship that goes from loving and supportive to bitter and twisted.
The Ballad of Wallis Island
Rating: CTC
Duration: 100mins
Director: James Griffiths
Cast: Tom Basden, Tim Key, Carey Mulligan, Sian Clifford
Genre: Comedy, music, drama
Opens: 28 August
Former folk band members Herb McGwyer (Tom Basden) and Nell Mortimer (Carey Mulligan) parted ways years ago, but super fan Charles Heath (Tim Key), an eccentric and endearingly annoying lottery winner, has dreamt of getting the band back together for an intimate gig… a really, really intimate gig.
Set on the (fictional) Wallis Island and featuring McGwyer Mortimer’s music (while the band is fictional, the music is available online), the film explores the lengths Charles will go to recreate his life’s soundtrack. Things might have gone more to plan had Charles not deceived them both.
Herb arrives first, and from the moment he (literally) falls onto the remote and rugged Welsh island, he starts to question why he is there. Later, when Nell arrives with her bird-loving husband in tow, you realise Herb’s never really stopped loving the free-spirited co-creator.
The former lovers reconnect through their music, but old and new tensions surface. While Nell has a fondness for their past fame, Herb’s desperate to reinvent himself and become more ‘edgy’. Constantly hovering in the background is the delightfully awkward Charles. Between the lame jokes and his unbridled admiration for Herb, Charles just wants everyone to get along.
Written by Tom Basden and Tim Key, the film is based on their 2007 Edinburgh International Film Festival award-winning short film, and features music by Basden and Mulligan throughout. You’ll have wished you had seen them back in the day.
Action is interspersed with powerful images of dramatic seascapes, grey clouds and crashing waves. The story is kept tight, with a very small cast, and no scene is wasted. It’s tender-hearted but never twee, an uplifting, must-see antidote for the weary at heart.
