Black Mountain Poets

Watched this on free-to-air TV, so glad I didn't pay for it! I wasted 1½ hours of my life watching this rubbish. Neither comedy nor drama, there was no real plot and the sound and editing were awful. The two main characters were OK, but the rest of the characters had no real substance. Do not bother.

Best film of the 2015 Edinburgh Film Festival for me was an ultra-low-budget British comedy set in a poets' camping retreat in the Black Mountains of Wales - 'Black Mountain Poets'. Claire and Lisa are sisters and lorry thieves. Escaping from their most recent bungled robbery they wind up pretending to be 'beat poets' at the afore-mentioned retreat. While there they both fall for the smouldering charms of Richard (Tom Cullen from 'Downton Abbey'), make a mess of putting up tents and hear lots of bad poetry.

The film certainly isn't original: earnest poets are a wide-open goal for any comedy scriptwriter, and it will surprise no-one that our two anti-heroines Learn Important Life Lessons and that at least one of them discovers her inner muse. But it's so good-natured, with dialogue that often sounds improvised, but not in that embarrassing actors-not-sure-what-to-do way, and it contains some good performances - particularly from Dolly Wells (of 'Doll and Em' fame) and Alice Lowe, who really spark off each other as Claire and Lisa. Goodness knows if the film will get a wide - or any - distribution, but if it does, try to see it - you'll leave the cinema with a smile on your face.

I am a big fan of Alice Lowe's work but regretfully have to rate this as almost as low as possible. The only highlights are Lowe's ad-libbed lines putting me in mind of Noel Fielding's Vince Noir from The Mighty Boosh but without the foil of Howard Moon's affected straightness. The plot premise is simple but the idea just isn't taken far enough. The synopsis pretty much IS the script.

Rarely do I stop watching a film after the half way mark but in this case I simply had to leave the room before the end to look for a can of Dulux in a desperate search for entertainment. I understand I didn't miss much. Shame.

I thought the performances were very good and the story believable. The mic sensitivity was to high in some scenes, voices distorted in a few others and the musical sections were way to loud. This should have been run through a sound stabilizer.

There were some nice unexpected twists for a love story of sorts. The human element is a hallmark of the film. The scenery is a joy and this is pointed out within the film.

(As a disclaimer, I am told I analyze films story line to much.). Do not read further I'd you are in t e majority that just blocks out the irregularities.

A few plot irregularities prevented me giving it an 8.5, like the opening scene which presents out heroines as possible environmental crusaders, then switches them to burglars and then con artists. The 3 are very different. Later the poet sisters, after an event, sit for 3-4 days for no known reason, when in walking distance to their destination. Then they display a large map, that previously was not explained in their possession. In another scene the GF tells the male lead that she wants to be romantic in the tents, but a short time later she demands her own tent alone? In another scene when the con is discovered, the male lead turns away, but...moments later he excepts the con sister without explanation. In the scene before the end, the police hold a cell phone with what appears to be a mans photo, but not the male lead, yet he and the con sisters run? The final scene is also a mystery. Like so many films things get cut and towards the end of the film, it appears they run of time and have to make adjustments.

Lisa and Claire are sisters who are petty con artists and would be digger thieves. After an uninspired heist goes a bit awry they decide to go on the run…..to Wales. However, their cunning plan involves them assuming the roles of Internationally renowned sister poets – The Wilding Sisters, and go off to a poetry retreat in the Black Mountains of Wales.

Once there they soon immerse themselves in their strange new World and go on a journey both physically and emotionally that involves more than a smattering of free form poetry.

Now this stars the wonderful Alice Lowe who was in 'Sightseers' and 'Locke' and she is just perfect in this role, getting the character just right and the physical comedy too. It also has Tom Cullen ('The Five') as Richard who is 'artistically blocked' in the verse department and he nails it completely. That said there is nothing but great performances here and the laughs keep coming. This is the sort of film where you miss things as there is so much packed in. The direction and cinematography and just about everything are all great and made this a very enjoyable and rewarding watch that I can happily recommend.