L.S. Lowry - Retratos de uma Paixão

This is a mesmerizingly slow film set almost entirely in one room..... it could almost be a play. However Adrian Noble thankfully focuses on the two main actors and we are gradually sucked in to their closed little world. Both Spall and Redgrave give towering complementary performances which keep the audience completely entranced from the beginning. Redgrave especially manages to create a relentlessly critical and bitter character without the viewer ever hating her for it.. and Spall has grown into a confident and creative character actor of the highest order. Beautiful cinematography and set design make this film artistically watchable. If you like slow burning drama then this is a treat.

I got very lucky on this one as I wandered into a senior cits viewing. At the beginning they tittered and the ones who felt they always should get their money's worth - guffawed. Oh, she was so sweet & humorous the old Lady in the bed with just harmless jibes at her son. But then when it never stops, and we hear things like (to paraphrase): "it is important to always be seen in a good light by your neighbours" as well she only began to see her son's talent when a recently entrenched neighbour with bourgeois pretensions said his seaside painting was delightful - did she then consider it. This is a deeply ingrained bourgeois-ism in the English psyche and not say like Gerard Depardieu not wanting to appear in a Truffaut movie because he felt he had 'gone bourgeois' - you don't go bourgeois - it is a heavily sanctioned part of the society you grow up in. Luckily through all the turmoil he kept at his painting because near the end of his life they were worth a fortune. And as we learn about how little support he had as an artist the audience quietened down considerably - reflecting you would think on bourgeois pretensions of their own.

Timothy spall in particular was fantastic as in fairness he always is in portraying the raw emotion of his character through with Redgrave not far off. In honesty I enjoyed this film but could not get over excited about it as it is ultimately a series of often mundane bedroom conversations between a bitter mother and loving son. The fact it kept my attention in this setting was an achievement in itself. I would personally have liked to seen more focus on the art itself in between or a larger portion of his life but for what it was the performances really maximised it's entertainment level and make it a worthwhile and interesting hour and a half despite its limitations.

As the title indicates, this is very much a film about Lowry's mother Elizabeth, a chronically ill malingerer, housebound and demanding. She despises almost every one of his early canvases, but when she warms to a picture of ships in the local canal and gives him two shillings to submit it to an exhibition in Manchester, she opens the door to his future glory. A showdown at home is the dramatic climax of this essentially domestic and un-dramatic narrative.

Timothy Spall and Vanessa Redgrave give performances which we have seen in other films, subtly shaded to fit this restrained and evocative story. Adrian Noble has directed a slow-burning movie with few "fireworks", but it offers an acting (and painting) master-class.

This is a simple and quite short film that brings to life one of Britain's most beloved artists and the life that he endured waiting hand and foot on his elderly mother.

Although the film is quite basic the acting of Timothy Spall and, to a degree, Vanessa Redgrave makes the film great. Spall now seems to be able to morph into any different British character, whether real or fiction, and completely make them his own. He must be one of the most understated great actors of our time.

I would like to have seen more of how Lowry came to paint such classics but the film does have a good angle and is really enjoyable.