Director: Roger Spottiswood.
3/5 Good worth watching
Synopsis
Recovering heroin addict James Bowen (Luke Treadaway) is given one last chance by his drug counsellor Val (Joanna Froggatt) when he overdoses and ends up in hospital. She finds him a flat to live in to sort his life out. Its dingy and on a council estate with drug dealers operating nearby and James finds things lonely, but one day a mysterious stray cat appears in his flat. Accompanying him on his busking in Covent Garden, Bob helps James become a huge hit with Londoners, eventually leading to a book deal about their experiences and life together.
Review, by Jason Day
Slice of economic life films might well become a new genre in cinema. Following Ken Loach's hard-hitting friends without benefits I, Daniel Blake (still on release in UK cinemas) and with the pound seemingly yo-yoing to and from crisis on a daily basis, this based on a true story drama presents a more hopeful spin to poverty.
Hopefully, no one in dire straits takes from this film the message that suffering on the breadline and busking in the freezing cold is OK because, hey, a nice American book publisher (Caroline Goodall) has her offices in Covent Garden too. And she'll help you out if you suffer, just enough to be cinematically acceptable.
But wrapped up in the positive, upbeat story is plenty of grit to keep even the stoniest of hearts content. The film is actually harsher than you'd expect, making the emotional pay-off at the end all the more life-affirming. Because sometimes, just sometimes, life can throw you a curve ball. Or is that a hair ball?
For more read Jason Day's full review here
Cast & credits
Director: Roger Spottiswoode. 103mins. Shooting Script Films/Prescience/Iris Productions. (12a)
Producers: Adam Rolston.
Writers: Tim John, Maria Nation.
Camera: Peter Wunstorf.
Music: David Hirschfelder.
Sets: Antonia Lowe.
Bob the Cat, Luke Treadaway, Ruta Gedmintas, Joanne Froggatt, Anthony Head, Beth Goddard, Darren Evans, Caroline Goodall, Ruth Sheen, Nina Wadia.
