Lad: A Yorkshire Story

Possibly the best self-distributed film you'll see and deserving of a wider audience. Dan Hartley wrote and directed this film as a tribute to a real person who guided him in his own life. It's well-written, beautifully shot and directed, and worth a few hours of anyone's time. Sadly, because it is a low budget film with an unknown cast Hartley has never been able to get a full distribution or the backing of major players. The film has a high average rating on IMDB and has one several international awards - you get to see it for free.

Tom is a thirteen year old lad living in a small village in the Yorkshire Dales. Kids here make their own adventures with a vast open playground on their doorstep. It's a pretty normal life for Tom, his older brother and his mam and dad until tragedy strikes and Tom's life becomes a troubled one, understandably - thirteen year old lads aren't equipped to cope with normal life, let alone having big issues thrown at them.

The film has a recurring theme of loss and Tom must feel that everything he loves is taken from him - his dad, his brother, his home, his friends and, at one point, his innocence. And yet he keeps things together unknowingly before finding (and understanding) a bit more abouthis place in th world.

The cast are unknown and (I assume) in most cases amateur actors. Nevertheless there are stirring performance from Bretten Lord as Tom, Molly McGlynn as Lucy and a fantastic display by Nancy Clarkson as Tom's mam.

what endears this film to me most is it's unsentimentality. The acting is heart rending at times but doesn't overly rely on speeches of impact or scenes that are obviously written and rewritten to provide a Hollywood version of Yorkshire, the speech is quite natural. The depiction of the Yorkshire Dales is my most treasured element of the film. The local quarry is the employer of Tom's father and many scenes are shown against disused quarries and heaps of spoil. The houses are terraced workers houses, not centuries old stone cottages, and we see the characters in the ginnels and dirt lanes at the back of these houses. This is what the Dales are like for like for many people who work and live there, and yet it is still stunningly beautiful. It is impossible to make any part of the Pennines ugly I think, even filming below grey skies the desolate treeless moors have a magic quality that captivates and probably scares people unused to the unique landscape. I'm biased, mind - I live further south in the Dark Peak and am wed to moorland and old quarries. This isn't All Creatures Great and Small, Last of the Summer Wine, Wuthering Heights or Heartbeat - this is almost real life.

"When Tom Proctor's dad dies, his world falls apart; his brother joins the army, his mum is threatened with eviction and Tom faces criminal prosecution after spreading manure over the local bank. All this changes however when Tom meets park ranger Al Thorpe in this inspiring story of two individuals overcoming adversity and finding true friendship."

The film is beautifully shot, and the landscapes alone are well worth 96 minutes of your time (Dan Mackie has won several awards for his cinematography in 'Lad').

The story tugs on the heartstrings in all the right places - you'll laugh, you'll cry, and above all you'll find the characters utterly compelling and believable. There's some wonderful comedic moments to counterpoint the emotional challenges facing the Tom and his mum, and Al's grand-daughter makes a very welcome appearance (certainly as far as Tom's concerned).

As a first time film-maker Dan Hartley does a brilliant job and the cast are both believable and engaging throughout, avoiding the trap of overplaying their roles. The film has won numerous awards at film festivals across the world and justifiably so.

I'm only sad that the film didn't find a mainstream distributor to get it into more cinemas.

Fairly routine plot, nicely handled , though with a fair few amateurish touches. All those friends of the participants who have been drafted in to give the film ten stars have their hearts in the right place, but I am not a Yorkshire bloke and, with the best will in the world, I cannot see this very decent film getting more than 7 out of 10 from a competent critic. Methinks that lot doth protest too much!

This is a very thought invoking film, with many layers of thought going on hear, you have a family that has been torn apart by gut wrenching loss and heart ache, in the loss of their father and Husband, the hardest hit is Tom the youngest at thirteen he felt the brunt of the responsibility for his family as his Brother went off to the Army, he was left to fend for the family having to sell his prized rock collection to send his mother to tractor trailer school, that took heart to do, and steeling that tractor and spreading crap on the bank took wat the Greek,s call Th'rros Guts and courage, and I would say that boy has it in spades, this is a coming of age story for the whole family but will take your full attention because of the Upper Highlands accents, this a one for the whole family no bad language at ,east that we can understand. I would give it a rating of PG loosely. worth a watch

Beautiful, just beautiful. Beautiful story, beautiful acting (absolutely amazing everyday people pulling off Oscar worthy performances) stunning cinematography, & perfectly suited score. Spawned a great discussion for our library's Film Critics Club, & received 2 thumbs up from all!