Among Giants - Zwischen Himmel und Erde

As a drama set in working class Yorkshire, Among Giants certainly has its antecedants: The Fully Monty, with which it shares a screenwriter, Sheffield and an interest in full male nudity (which in this film, we actually get to see!); Brassed Off, which also featured Pete Poselthwaite, a collection of emotional but never histrionic performances, and a slightly charicatured depiction of free market economics; and sitting above them all, the memory of Ken Loach's Kes. The film lacks Loach's realism, and the plot is full of holes. Against that, both Poselthwaite and Rachel Griffiths are superb, and it's shot with a great feel for landscape, both inside and outside the city. It's not perfect, and it lacks the Monty's cheap selling points, but in spite of that, it's done with real feeling and is arguably the better film.

Kind of slow at times. Plus, I had some difficulty following the dialogue due to the character's accents, but then it probably wasn't made with viewers from the American South in mind. The acting performances seemed good, and the photography was nice. I appreciated this movie for not having a super-hero, or being a rom-com, which is most of Hollywood's output these days.

I really don't understand why this film has received such generally negative reaction. I agree that it does bog down in a couple of places, and maybe some of the charactors could have been developed in a litte more detail, but Postelwaite and Griffiths are thoroughly engrossing.

Also, the film is visually very interesting. Someone has a real eye for shot construction.

After looking at the user ratings, I was expecting to be disappointed. I wasn't.

I did not know of the existence of this film until i saw it on a video preview. I rushed right out to hunt it down as Pete Postlethwaite and Rachel Griffiths are absolutely brilliant actors. I think it is fantastic that character actor Pete Postlethwaite, finally gets to play a romantic lead. There has always been something compelling and charismatic about him. Rachel Griffiths is perfect also. Forget your air-brushed, hollywood ideas of romance and sex, this is real, and sexy and uplifting at the same time.

Ray (Pete Postlethwaite) leads a crew of misfits with a long job to paint giant electrical pylons. They pick up Australian hitchhiker and climber Gerry (Rachel Griffiths). Ray's flat-mate Steve (James Thornton) also loves climbing. She joins the group as the only woman on the job.

This is one of those British lower class people films. It does have the great Postlethwaite and Rachel Griffiths. It could do more with the climbing, but the visuals are rarely that challenging. This doesn't have much else. I am willing to give this a passing grade for the simple charm of spending time with Postlethwaite and pixie cut Griffiths is damn hot.