neil-321

If you've never wondered why the streets aren't overrun with broken people, then this might not be for you. For the rest of us, though, this is an excellent perceptive, unsettling, thought-provoking psychological drama. Blinding performances from the two leads, with solid support from the rest of the cast.

Brilliant Scorcese, massively talented actors etc etc. But I could only stand about 45mins watching these disgusting, misogynist, vile people, for whom I had not even a nanogram of empathy. You'll probably say that's the whole point, in which case enjoy. But I just found it tragic. Not tragi-comic: just tragic.

I can see from some of the reviews here that many people don't like things that don't fall easily into a particular category or genre. To me, The Fox & the Child was part folk-tale, part nature documentary, part morality tale.

From the start, I revelled in the beautiful photography of beautiful landscapes. Lighting, set design, and composition create a folksy/fantasy feel that should be a bit of a give-away to those who think that the film's story is 'unlikely'. The animal shots, while portraying realistic animal behaviour, also have a quality that tells us that we are watching a celebration of the beauty of nature, rather than a scientific treatise on the flora and fauna of Europe.

The icing on the cake for me was that the story has a look at the difficult relationship between Man and Nature. The child learns that wild animals are not pets, and ends the year wiser than she started it.

I was going to give The Fox & the Child an '8', but felt compelled to subtract a whole point for that dreadful little song that is up there with Disney's "It's a Small World" for burrowing its way into your brain and refusing to leave.