Once again this is a film by a director that can do no wrong. Fred Schepisi's other films such as the Russia House and Six Degrees of Separation are among my top movies.
The first thing to mention is the composition – Schepisi always uses a very wide aspect ratio (just checked it to be 2.35:1.) In this film it allows him to show all four of the characters on the journey to Margate at once in beautiful almost painterly detail. I'm thinking of the stop over in the Rochester pub. In the trailer this is cut to just three of the characters and you lose more than a quarter of the effect. After the glamorous locations of the previous films, such as New York, Moscow and St Petersburg, North Kent looks pretty good too. Somehow this is a great achievement.
What to say about the principal actors? Either you can say it a distillation of England's finest or a collection of old (East?) Hams. Michael Caine probably has it in the acting stakes as he literally plays his old man dying of cancer. David Hemmings almost has it for, well, being David Hemmings. It's such a shame he will not appear again in anything new. What a wonderful career he had from working with Britten, Antonioni and finally this film. Tom Courtney gets points for being the most restrained. Bob Hoskins gains for not going too over the top. Ray Winstone is thankfully unobtrusive. Helen Mirren finishes off the main cast acting against type as a very plain woman, a sort of ageing DI Tennison without the glamorous job.
The young actors are also very good, especially Michael Caine's double. But the biggest shock goes to Hemmings' younger self, who looks incredibly like the Blow Up era Hemmings, especially in the after-fight scene where he has a steak over the eye. Astonishing... (Should have checked IMDB first, the young actor is Hemmings' real son Nolan, with Gayle Hunnicut...)
A slow sad piece, but with a lot of laughter then.
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