legindyoll

This has to be the best feel good program on TV by far. I've watched at least 80% of the 330+ episodes and am currently re-watching every season and finding the ones I haven't watched before (on BBC iPlayer). Family heirlooms, toys and loads of other personal items are repaired and given extra life by experts in their fields. People like King Charles, Dame Judi Dench, Dawn French have appeared on the program and regular experts have repaired clocks, toys, pottery, industrial machinery, shoes, handbags, paintings, clothing, glassware and almost anything that bring back family memories and their history.

I went into this film with High hopes and was not disappointed, the characterisation, the settings, the costumes all lent themselves to create an immersive experience I haven't seen in a film before of this type.

It didn't need expansive CGI or anything similar and at the end I felt like it just spent a time living in the 1950s alongside the main character while he morphed into a wholly likeable person.

The fact that it was a remake of a Kurusawa film was not a surprise, as the atmosphere within was very similar to many of his films.

Bill Nighy is at his highly understated best, well worthy of some kind of award.

I was reminded of this when I heard a song on Radio 2 by a band with the same name. The memory banks whirred into action and the love of this gem came back to me. The characterisation, filming, music, script and acting come together to make a extremely enjoyable whole.