ALL THE LONELY PEOPLE (THE UNLIKELY PILGRIMAGE OF HAROLD FRY)
There's a lot to be said for a well executed suburban English drama.
Get some great actors in the cast and a decent storyline - preferably from a well received novel or play - and away you go.
Hettie MacDonald's 'The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry' ticks all of those boxes.
With Jim Broadbent and Penelope Wilton in the main roles, writer Rachel Joyce has adapted for the screen her own acclaimed 2012 novel which won a National Book Award and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
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Broadbent and Wilton are Harold and Maureen Fry, a retired couple going through the motions of suburban married life in South Devon.
Taking each other for granted, their life is upended when Harold receives a letter from an old work colleague, Linda Bassett's Queenie Hennessy informing him she has cancer and is being moved to a hospice in Berwick-upon-Tweed, near the Scottish border.
Struggling to write even a perfunctory note, Harold heads off to post it in his hometown of Kingsbridge but hesitates every time he comes to a postbox.
Calling into a petrol station to pick up a bottle of milk, he gets into a conversation with Nina Singh's shop assistant telling her about Queenie.
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When she tells him her support helped save her aunt from cancer, Harold is inspired and decides to embark straight away on a 600 mile trek on foot across England towards Berwick-upon-Tweed.
Contacting the hospice, he tells Queenie's carers to tell her to wait for him. He's not going to let her down.
Phoning Maureen, she reacts angrily to his spur of the moment decision and as the days roll on without him returning she is consumed by shame after initially struggling to grasp why he is embarking on the journey.
Undeterred by all this, Harold focuses on his trek through the highways and byways of England, encountering a raft of people over the course of the journey and inspiring acts of generosity.
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Among those he encounters are Claire Rushbook's kind farmer's wife, Monika Grossman's Slovakian doctor Martina who can only find work as a cleaner and Ian Porter's gay train station passenger.
A stray dog starts to follow Harold around and after his photo is taken by a member of the public who he meets in a pub, he becomes a social media sensation and soon attracts mainstream media attention.
Daniel Frogson's drug addict Wilf starts to follow him around 'Forrest Gump' style and other hangers on do too.
But with the walk bringing back memories of a difficult relationship with his own wayward son, Earl Cave's David, will Harold be able to reach his destination?
And will Maureen be able to understand what's driving Harold and forgive him for abandoning her?
MacDonald and Joyce deliver an understated gem of a film which lives off the strong central performances of Broadbent and Wilton.
Cinematically, her film will not blow your socks off but it's a pleasant amble through life and moves at just right pace.
Crucially Joyce's screenplay absorbs you in Harold's story.
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Broadbent is hugely sympathetic as a man grabbing one last chance to atone for past mistakes and achieve something meaningful.
A humble man, he's bemused by all the attention his walk receives but floats along with it until it gets too much.
But it is a performance of great modesty and old fashioned decency.
Wilton is also excellent as Harold's mystified, estranged wife, while Joseph Mydell impresses as a compassionate widower neighbour Rex who becomes concerned for Maureen's wellbeing.
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Rushbrook, Cave, Frogson, Grossman, Porter and Bassett bring a lot of heart to roles that look for the humanity in people and trade on their basic decency.
MacDonald's film is so well executed and tugs the heart so vigorously, don't be surprised if you end up with a lump in your throat.
Screenings of 'The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fly' really ought to be accompanied with a packet of tissues, if only as a fallback.
Watching it, it says a lot that it feels really refreshing to go to a movie where no punch is thrown, no shot is fired and barely an angry word is spoken.
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'The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fly' is a low key treat.
It's a human film about real emotions and lonely people making brief, yet meaningful connections with each other.
Savour every minute of a film that never overstays its welcome.
('The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fly' was released in UK and Irish cinemas on April 28 2023)
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