I went along to the Watershed again yesterday to see Steve McQueen’s film about the blitz bombing on London in 1940, featuring the always excellent Saoirse Ronan (Rita - ridiculously beautifully-dressed throughout despite all the bombing and destruction!) as the single mother living with her father (rather wonderfully played by Paul Weller!). Her bi-racial son (played by Elliott Heffernan) is evacuated, only to run away in a perilous bid to find her (Rita’s Grenadian partner was harassed by racists and deported).
Lots of
impressive stuff but, for me, I have to say that I found the film a little disappointing
(especially given it was written, produced and directed by McQueen). I’d even
say it frequently felt somewhat contrived and artificial. A film to watch on
the telly on a drab Sunday afternoon maybe but, from my perspective, nothing
more. Sorry.