Ordinary Love: Un amore come tanti

'Ordinary Love (2019)' is exactly what it says on the tin: a portrait of mundane, turbulent, beautiful love. It charts the journey of a couple moving through tough times and is as thoughtful and nuanced as you'd hope. Its story is rather straightforward (it's pretty much exactly what you'd expect), but it delivers what it needs to and feels all the more 'real' because of it. The focus of the film is something that isn't actually explored all that often and it's great to see it portrayed so sensitively here. The picture's grounded, non-'romanticised' romance is brilliant, too. It feels as close to 'real' as possible, an honest and moving exploration of love that never seems heightened or false. The two stars deliver the goods in their subtle, harder-than-you-may-expect roles, coming together as a compelling pair of, essentially, 'real people'. They have flaws and they argue but they also have an undeniable connection. When this is exploited, it's really heart-warming. When it comes down to it, though, the flick just isn't all that exciting or, perhaps, impactful. It's engaging enough and never even close to boring, but it doesn't quite hit home as hard as it ought to. It's good, don't get me wrong. I can't quite put into words what it is that is, for me, missing. I guess I'll say it like this: it's good, but it's not great. 6/10

"Ordinary Love" (2019 release from the UK; 92 min.) brings the story of Tom and Joan. As the movie opens, Tom and Joan are taking their daily walk along the water, and we then see them watching telly. When Joan takes a shower, she feels a lump in her left breast. She goes to the doctor and after a mammogram, she gets the news that she has cancer... At this point we are 10 min. into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest movie from the Northern Ireland husband and wife co-directors Lisa Barros D'Sa and Glenn Layburn. Here they examine the fallout of dealing with cancer on a long-married couple. There isn't much of a plot, other than to see whether Joan makes it through. Instead, we look at the devastating effect of dealing with cancer on their daily lives. Hospital visit after hospital visit. "I'm frightened", Joan confesses to Tom, and he tries to be supportive as best as he can, all along being frightened himself (but not saying so to Joan). There are some side stories that bear out on this but which I don't want to spoil here. Just watch. What makes this movie different is that it isn't your typical Hollywood cancer drama (think: The Fault In Our Stars; A Walk to Remember, etc.), but instead a nitty gritty look at dealing with cancer. Some scenes are difficult to watch, and other will move you to tears. The two leads are outstanding, with Leslie Manville as Joan and Liam Neeson as Tom. Neeson returns to his Northern Irish roots for this film, and thankfully stays MILES away from his recent action figure characters (the "Taken" franchise, "The Commuter:, "Cold Pursuit"). It is easily his best role in YEARS.

"Ordinary Love" premiered at last Fall's Toronto International Film Festival to immediate critical acclaim, and is now getting a limited US theater release. It opened this weekend at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati and the Saturday matinee screening where I saw this at was attended so-so (8 people in total). No, this film isn't going to amass big box office, as for that it's way too difficult to watch, but if you look behind the obvious struggles of these people, you'll notice a celebration of deep love and friendship, and indeed life itself. If that appeals to you, I'd readily suggest you check this out, be it in the theater (if you still can), on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

Neeson and Manville have a chemistry that I have rarely seen. Their banter their body languague everything is so believable and relatable. They share a love that is in the little things. They don't have to talk about love you can see it in the way they spend their time together. Watch them go through the worst of times always knowing that they have each other. A great movie about sacrifice, love, loyalty and hope. Honest in it's pictures and performances.

A slow-paced, thoughtful, minutely-observed drama following the progress of a long-married couple after a cancer diagnosis.

Superbly acted, the couple are as familiar to each other as a pair of warm slippers, but their relationship is strained as chemotherapy and the unspoken fear of the final separation take their toll. Hovering behind them throughout everything is the ghost of their daughter, whose death is never explained but who is never far away.

The movie does not rub our noses in medical horrors, but at the same time it faithfully chronicles the process of cancer treatment without ever resorting to sentimentality.

Liam Neeson is a terrific actor. Presumably, a relentlessly low-key movie such as this signifies that he's no longer interested in super-stardom (if indeed he ever was) and is simply doing stuff that he really wants to do. Long may it continue.

This film tells the mundane lives of a married couple, until their world is smashed by cancer. The plethora of emotions are portrayed very well. It is real, raw and very moving. I can relate to every scene, as they look like real life.