anonReigate

This was an extremely moving film, covering the life and death of the remarkable Veronica Guerin.

It would have been easy to sentimentalize this story, but it unfolded in a realistic, down-to-earth fashion that somehow made Guerin's death all the more harrowing.

However, Guerin was not painted as a tragic figure, but was shown throughout as a flawed and all-too-human figure (the incident with the skateboard at her son's party was very telling) who felt that she just HAD to continue with her crusade.

It is impossible to over-praise Cate Blanchett's performance, varying from flirtatious and humorous to passionate and driven.

Not an easy film to watch, but one that I cannot recommend highly enough.

On her 30th birthday, Pamela Drury is given the chance to see what might have happened if she had married "Mr Right" 13 years ago.

In a sequence that could have been endlessly corny if badly handled, Pamela is transported to her "married life" where she discovers what would have happened if she had chosen marriage over her journalistic career. The writers did not take the obvious route of making her husband out to be a rat, and the moment she discovers that she was the one that had been unfaithful is very telling.

All the cast are very strong, with Trent Sullivan as four-year-old Rupert stealing every scene he is in. Rachel Griffiths is totally believable as Pamela, in both her incarnations, and combines humour with pathos and credibility.

Somehow this film manages to avoid over-sentimentality, and reassures the viewer that regret is futile. Very funny and rather touching in places.

Anybody who has seen this film will remember the 'low-flying' denouement as an example of comic genius.

However, it is facile to describe the film merely as a comedy, even if there are some scenes that leave the viewer begging for mercy. There are moments of real tragedy, tyrannical abuse meted out be a father made desperate by his family's refusal to remain traditional. Om Puri manages, however, to make the father George Khan a sympathetic character, despite his sometimes irredeemable behaviour.

Desperately funny, sad and uplifting.