Everyday

Michael Winterbottom has made many fine movies humanising the routinely despised - asylum seekers, alleged terrorists, and so on - but with 'Everyday', his portrait of a man with a long term prison sentence, he might possibly have done better to cast a harsher light on his protagonists. John Simm's gentle character hardly seems like a major criminal; and the struggle of his wife to raise their family alone is softened by its setting in the beautiful (and beautifully lit) English countryside. The drama centres on visits, rather than the routine of prison life, and uses a fair amount of soft-focus music . It's a sensitive but surprisingly unacerbic portrait of the consequences of being sent down; in places its moving, but its also clearly non-political - don't look here for an analysis of "broken Britain".

Take one art-house director, use non-actors in the most emotionally engaging roles (the children) and film it over five years. There you have it! A piece of work that receives amazing reviews and attention. Yet this drama has left me feeling strangely unmoved and disengaged. I wasn't interested in the adults and didn't care one iota about them, perhaps through the fault of the director? The only people that mattered to me were the kids but even their amazingly sensitive and natural performances struggled to keep my interest. Simm and Henderson were good, as they always are in their work, but no better than many other dramatic actors in far superior dramas. The scenes in Everyday were slow, and I found the accompanying music sounded like the film score from a Hallmark movie. Winterbottom's final shot was something that I have seen in endless films before... So why is everyone applauding this film? IS IT ME? Or is this truly a case of the Emperor's Clothing?

One feat may be this film was shot in a five-year period of time. Boyhood in twelve. No problem. But a great deal, anyway. The thing is the story. Always the story. Here, Winterbottom takes us in the lives of people who have to do what they have to do, every day. And it's exactly that every day life which gives meaning to any life.

The kids (I imagine all of them siblings in real life) are just themselves all the time. No hidden tricks, no acting. They are the glue of everything here. And yes, they deliver what any kid their age would do in life: living as a kid. It has the feel of a documentary. The hand held camera is a clear sign of this, as is also the camera in the car, the perfectly captured whispers... as if we were intruding in their every day lives.

The beauty of the story is the chiaroscuro of its scenes and of its pace. Quiet and bucolic at times, raucous and city-driven in other moments. I applaud the way this film was made and all the people involved in making it happen. Beautiful.

I saw this movie at the Channel 4 building last night, I went with high hopes as I'm a fan of Michael Winterbottom's other work, but I wasn't really sure what to expect as all of his movies are quite different.

This movie focuses on a young family who are dealing with the fact that their father is doing a five year stretch in jail. We see these children grow up over the whole movie as it was shot over 5 years which just adds to the realism. The acting is outstanding, very natural, in fact it's hard to believe they aren't a real family. It shows the struggles that the children face not having their father in their lives and how they adapt to that. We see the father in jail who doesn't really take on board how difficult it is for this family to travel to see him, he has his visits and wants every single minute with his family, but as the viewer we have a better understanding of what it really takes to see him. The mother just gets on with, she's incredibly strong but my heart went out to her when I thought of myself being in that same position.

I was hooked until the last minute, laughing then crying, then laughing again. This is no glamorisation of prison, it's just the real mundane, human stuff and I found that extremely refreshing.

It's not very often that I enjoy a film in which very little actually happens! But "Everyday" is an exception. I saw it recently when it premiered at the BFI London Film Festival. It's a thoughtful, understated film with excellent performances. It held my interest right up until the end. And I enjoyed it very much.

Filmed over 5 years, "Everyday" is a worthy but never dull film about how a mother and her four young children cope while her husband and their father serves a term of imprisonment. Karen (Shirley Henderson) spends the time accompanying her children to and from school, trying to keep the family's home-life on a reasonably even keel and visiting her husband Ian (John Simm) with the children. At the same time, she is trying to hold down her job as a barmaid at the local pub. She is also having an affair with one of her customers.

"Everyday" examines the impact of Ian's absence on his wife and children. It does so in a naturalistic and unassuming way. There are no histrionics or very dramatic scenes. What we get are quietly effective vignettes that show how disruptive a husband and father's extended absence from home can be, particularly on young children. The acting is first rate. Henderson and Simm are very good indeed, as are all four youngsters who play the couple's children. The direction and the camera-work are also very effective. "Everyday" is a visually confident and a very impressive film. 8/10.