This Year's Love (DVD)

...last Saturday night. I saw this film on teletext on BBC2, had a look on ITV's film section to read a summary of what to expect and thought 'oh well, we might as well watch it'. How pleasantly surprised I was!

The film's plot covers the usual subject that is quite abundant in our society nowadays. It starts with two people getting married, the man finds his now wife has been cheating on him all the while with his best man (poor sod, ...
...of fulfillment and elevating surprise. This is exactly how I felt about this film. Though the subject matter is not something that would appeal to me instantaneously, I was left feeling slightly sad for the characters portrayed, yet had many a laugh in between not to render the film a weepy experience.

The individual acting was excellent by a very able cast, all British, I must add, and including Cathy buerk, Dougray Scott and Jennifer ... more

**Pardon the crudeness of the title, couldn't think of something better, or more appropriate to that matter**

You know how it is. You see a film advertised on the TV listings, you've never heard of it before, it's British. You recognise a few of the actors'/actresses' names, they're known alright, but not that well-known. The storyline has a feel to it of 'Been there, seen that', yet you still decide to give it the benefit of the doubt as there's nothing better on, and it's too late now to pop down the local video shop to get a decent film (i.e. you're really too lazy to do so, if you're being honest).

And so it was the case last Saturday night. I saw this film on teletext on BBC2, had a look on ITV's film section to read a summary of what to expect and thought 'oh well, we might as well watch it'. How pleasantly surprised I was!

The film's plot covers the usual subject that is quite abundant in our society nowadays. It starts with two people getting married, the man finds his now wife has been cheating on him all the while with his best man (poor sod, he hasn't been married for half an hour!) and decides to up and leave the wedding. Upon going to the airport thinking 'I'll still have my honeymoon holiday in Jamaica' he offers his wife's ticket to a cleaning lady, and things snowball from there.

In other scenes, you have two housemates. One a total neurotic possessive character, the other, a happy-go-lucky, I only care about myself, nutter. Another character is portrayed as a rebel single mother (from a rich background) who cannot hold down a steady relationship (hardly a surprise when according to her, everything is the other half's fault).

The setting is Camden, London, and all characters end up coming across each other (some even end up sleeping together) at some point through out the film, many a time with hilarious consequences, at other times, with tragic endings.

Sometimes, you expect nothing from something, the event happens, ends, and you are left with a wonderful sense of fulfillment and elevating surprise. This is exactly how I felt about this film. Though the subject matter is not something that would appeal to me instantaneously, I was left feeling slightly sad for the characters portrayed, yet had many a laugh in between not to render the film a weepy experience.

The individual acting was excellent by a very able cast, all British, I must add, and including Cathy buerk, Dougray Scott and Jennifer Ehle. However, the star of the show for me was Dougray Scott. The man was so sublime and believable in playing a total layabout who cares for nothing and no one's feelings, you wondered at times if he wasn't simply transforming his real life into film.

Some comic highlights/lines from the film include the following incidents:

- ' It takes two to have crap sex'
- ' Ten feet from the finishing line, he gets a heart attack' - about an outside-chance racing horse who had a bet placed on him.
- ' Fancy a pint?' - after being drowned in four pints by two ex-girlfriends.
- 'If it's sex you're after, forget it!, I'm terrible'.
- 'I can't understand all these people with self-mutilation, can you?' - from a hard-drug taking man who's having his umpteenth tattoo, criticising someone for a nose ring.

And many more like the ones above, but I won't spoil it for you any further.

I'm both puzzled and miffed as to why so many wonderful British-made films never have a chance in hell of making it to the big screen. Apart from the odd Four weddings and a funeral-esque picture every once in a blue moon, you rarely get to see or hear about one. Even if you do get a success, they turn out to be American-backed, with a mainly British cast. What a shame!

In summary, I loved this film. Complications of everyday lives, broken and weird relationships, personal insecurities, oddities of characters, etc, all came out in a wonderful mixture of humour and drama. The story was a little different than normal, and though, slightly pushing your boundaries of imagination in terms of believability in real life (surely, all those people cannot so coincidentally have their lives intertwined between each other at different times (then again, fate can and does work in mysterious ways). I'll be more than happy to fork out a rental fee to watch again, but I'll make sure of having some mates who'll enjoy it too and who'll share the laughs and the aahhhs.

Highly recommended, unless you totally despise the genre.

PS Fans of David Gray (me included) will enjoy a cameo role from the man, performing snippets of a couple of his songs. suffice to say, the title of the film is also a title of a track from his 'White ladder' album. 

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