We do not see them that often in new pictures, so casting such names has a built-in poignancy to it. A shy, grumpy pensioner Arthur (Terence Stamp) is reluctantly inspired by his beloved wife Marion (Vanessa Redgrave) to join a highly unconventional local choir – a choir composed of elderly men and women who sing contemporary pop and rock songs. 3 out of 5 stars. Thanks for subscribing! Still, it’s all a bit of a bore because as far as cinematic old sods go, Stamp makes a loveable one. He puts two cash-strapped pensioners at the heart of this film, and it proves one of his smartest moves. And it’s all played so slowly, like the actors are moving underwater. Look out for your first newsletter in your inbox soon! Arthur must confront the undercurrents of his own irritable personality as he embarks on a life-affirming journey. It’s also got an 'old persons choir’ as a plot device. Marion is his wife. To cineastes of a certain age, these two are titans. Film review for YOU: Song for Marion, starring Vanessa Redgrave, Terence Stamp and Gemma Arterton ... Song For Marion is a bittersweet portrayal of a … Everything that follows is as predictable, dreary and proverbial as the weather in Manchester. Folks tut-tut at the union. 3 out of 5 stars. © 2020 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. © 2020 Time Out England Limited and affiliated companies owned by Time Out Group Plc. With Song for Marion he changes direction, pulling together into a crowd-pleasing, tear-jerking package some elements of Brassed Off, Calendar Girls, … Film, Drama. The definitive site for Reviews, Trailers, Showtimes, and Tickets All rights reserved. Add to that the fact that the plot is about the ravages of aging, grief and the best way to die and you may feel with some justification that this movie, which comes on so sweet, has been tooled to produce tears and smiles. Their wrecked beauty – and the seemingly effortless way they can convey terror and love and a lifetime of hope and dignity – is gorgeous to behold. That’s because Marion is dying of cancer.After this early promise the plot takes on the simple, soothing and affirming contours of middlebrow TV drama where every crisis and dilemma is averted with a kind word and a big heart. He's gruff, laconic, alienated from their son and incapable of showing his feelings. Shot around Tyneside and Durham, but with no particular regional feeling, it focuses on the long-married lower-middle-class couple, Marion and Arthur, both well played by Vanessa Redgrave and Terence Stamp. She's ebullient, outgoing and terminally ill. 9:37 PM PDT 9/11/2012 by John DeFore ... in a film whose conceit and execution will appeal to a large percentage of the older moviegoing public. Song for Marion soundtrack from 2013, composed by Various Artists, Laura Rossi. By entering your email address you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and consent to receive emails from Time Out about news, events, offers and partner promotions. (If you think a posse of 70-somethings doing a choral version of Motorhead’s 'Ace of Spades’ is ticklish then you’ll have fun.) Try another. But Song … The musical scenes are a combination of broad comedy and camp. If nothing else, Redgrave and Stamp are fine. Which is to say it has Vanessa Redgrave and Terence Stamp in it. We already have this email. I never felt that anything was at risk, at least for too long. We see how Marion and Arthur really read the other; we see how all the years they’ve spent together have made words unnecessary. Williams’s better instincts are on display, however, when offering ailing Redgrave a heart-shredding solo number, and also in his attuned writing for the curmudgeonly hubby, whose tender side only his wife sees. And in the interest of complete disclosure, I admit that this is the kind of picture that brings out the cynic in me. Paul Andrew Williams made an impressive debut in 2006 with London to Brighton, a brutally realistic crime movie that he followed with a couple of less good but still enjoyable thrillers. Song for Marion is a little English film but a big package. It’s geared so that Arthur’s eventual rescue from his personal misery is a foregone conclusion. Worse still is that Williams has stacked the film with so many 'right on’ hard-to-hate riffs – pensioner power/community building/generational understanding – that when the film turns out to be nothing but a shallow feel-good movie, I felt cheated.In the story, Marion’s major pass-time is singing in the local choir group led by Elizabeth (Gemma Arterton), a character so bouncy and happy she comes off as more than a bit patronising. Well, yes. That doesn’t sound like the basis for a riveting and deep scene but director Paul Andrew Williams turns it into a love-song of such richness and risk he never manages another to top it. Arthur resents the hell out of Elizabeth and the choir and what it has done for Marion because it throws his isolation and self-imposed loneliness into high relief. At least Williams conjures something genuine from their brittle father-and-son bickering and meanness. Together alone they are tender with one another. The plot, once set up, is a kind of machine. There’s also a subplot about Arthur and Marion’s only adult-child James (Christopher Eccleston), who doesn’t like his dad much, because, well, he wasn’t much of a dad. It allows a first-ever on-screen pairing for actors Terence Stamp and Vanessa Redgrave, and it puts genuine mortality at stake when illness jeopardises her role in a community choir for senior citizens. from the assembled oldies. SBS acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia. Time Out is a registered trademark of Time Out Digital Limited. They are both in their mid-70s. SBS World Movies Weekly Highlights: 26 October - 1 November, SBS World Movies Weekly Highlights: 19 - 25 October, Top movies to watch this month: October 2020, Best movies over 2.5 hours to stream at SBS On Demand, now that you have the time, 11 Comedies You Can Stream Right Now If You Just Need A Good Laugh. But even though we know where the film’s going, it still manages to give the tear-ducts a workout. All rights reserved. The rest of the movie merely wallows in a syrupy kind of sentimental poke as such non-questions are answered, like will the choir and the ebullient Lizzie wrest 'Arfur’ from his gloom? Fate – and formulaic plotting, needless to say – has other ideas. First published on Sun 24 Feb 2013 00.05 GMT. But from the pokey lower middle class settings of modest homes and streets we are permitted to guess. Redgrave and Stamp play people that are old; I mean that’s who their characters are. Monday February 18 2013. A marvellously insightful portrait of male emotional reticence lurks within an otherwise doggedly conventional feelgood drama in this change of pace for writer-director Paul Andrew Williams (‘London to Brighton’, ‘Cherry Tree Lane’). Later I understood why: they have no time for haste because they have little time left together. Marion represents the life force (working-class division), Arthur the embodiment of British emotional repression. The sillier aspects, like the oldies acting "street", don't quite sit well with the heavier moments, but otherwise this film, a departure for writer/director Paul Andrew Williams after London to Brighton and The Cottage, hit all the right notes (PUN! Watching it turn is, I guess, its essential pleasure. Sun 24 Feb 2013 00.05 GMT To cineastes of a certain age, these two are titans. Song for Marion. There is not much going on in the film on any level. Redgrave is affectingly bright and breezy as the lively granny determined to make it to a national choral competition, while Stamp digs in as the grumpy other half who’s scornful of her activities. The best bit in the movie arrives too early. Song for Marion: Toronto Review. How did a sweetheart like Marion end up with a mongrel like Arthur? The soundtrack for Song for Marion, a comedic drama with a musical theme about shy, grumpy pensioner Arthur (Terence Stamp) who is reluctantly inspired by his beloved wife Marion (Vanessa Redgrave) to join a highly unconventional local choir.At odds with his son James, it is left to charismatic choir director Elizabeth to try and persuade Arthur that he can learn to embrace life. It’s a lengthy set-piece where Arthur and Marion are preparing for bed. With Song for Marion he changes direction, pulling together into a crowd-pleasing, tear-jerking package some elements of Brassed Off, Calendar Girls, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Quartet and TV's The Choir. Local choir saves old soul in the simplest of ways. So often framed as an icon of patrician cool, Stamp touchingly allows us to share the vulnerable feelings behind those chiselled cheekbones and still-azure eyes, drawing on his own humble roots to deliver a career-highlight performance. Like School of Rock crossed with Michael Haneke's Amour, Song for Marion is a touching, tender and quite heartbreaking story. Song for Marion. Stamp is Arthur, a self-proclaimed grumpy bastard. Salt-N-Pepa!) The film revolves around Arthur (Terence Stamp), a miserable pensioner taking care of his cancer-afflicted wife, Marion (Vanessa Redgrave). Available for everyone, funded by readers. As the first scenes passed, I thought it was going to be a Brit sad-smile version of Hanake’s Amour. That’s in spite of a lumpy sub-plot involving estranged son Chris Eccleston, who’s too like his old dad to get on with him, and some toe-curlingly contrived acapella pop (Motörhead! Time Out says. That’s because neither the comedy, nor the drama, is allowed to build into something powerful.Of course, this is the kind of movie where issues of form – suspense, surprise, invention – are very much beside the point. He’s not one for joining in anything. However, thanks to two excellent lead performances, Song for Marion (2012) eventually proves to be a heart-warming watch. And that, surely, is worth singing about. Moreover, he refuses to join the choir of chirpy, eccentric old folk called the "OAPz", being organised by a patronising young music teacher (Gemma Arterton). Released by Sony Classical in 2013 containing music from Unfinished Song (Song for Marion) (2013). ). Déjà vu! At odds with his son James (Christopher Eccleston), it is left to choir director Elizabeth (Gemma Arterton) to try and persuade Arthur that he can learn to embrace life. We know his is a life worth saving; we spend the movie waiting for all the other characters to catch up with us. Song for Marion is a little English film but a big package. We do know that they are soulmates. We don’t find out what they did, or where they came from. Rotten Tomatoes, home of the Tomatometer, is the most trusted measurement of quality for Movies & TV.

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