DVD : Very Annie Mary [2001]

Rating: - If you don't have a sense of humour - don't watch.
Very Annie Mary is funny, touching, and is scary in places only because there are characters in the film that are so true to life it's uncanny. If you have ever had any connections with the South Wales Valleys, take a look at this and be entertained. The cast names read like a welsh 'Who's Who' and have been listed in previous reviews, but look out for Joanna Page (Gavin & Stacey) as Lil Bethan Bevan and Ruth Jones (G&S) who has a bit part of a woman buying bread! I bought sweets as a child in the same shop used by Hob & Nob, and the choir in the film sang at my wedding. A truly precious film.

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Rating: - What a gem!!
This is definitely one of my favourite films of all time. It surely ranks up there with the very best British films like Four Weddings, The Full Monty, Saving Grace and Billy Elliot. I have lent my rather battered copy of the video to several friends, all of whom were delighted with it. I'd recommend it to anyone with a sense of humour who wants to see a funny film with real heart. I love the constant fund-raising efforts by local groups which just go on in the background (like a Giles' cartoon), and the frequent references to 'poor little Bethan Bevan'! The funniest moment for me, though, is where she leaves her father carelessly plonked on the edge of the bed after he's had his stroke, and he just slides off onto the floor! Wonderful! And I always cry my eyes out at the end. It's so beautiful, without being over-sentimental or crass. I'm off to buy the DVD now to update my collection!

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Rating: - If you know the Welsh valleys, you'll love this film.
This film is hilarious, sensitive and exquisitely acted.
It is not weird, it's barely even quirky as long as you understand and can identify it within it's own context; The Welsh Valleys.
I myself have lived here for many years bringing up my family in a village not that dissimilar to Ogw, and therin lies the secret of this film; it's unerring accuracy. To anyone who knows Wales and knows the valleys the characters in this story are so endearingly relaistic that one finds oneself recognising people and identifying with one incident after another.
Yes Sara Sugarman is playing upon stereotypes here, but that is because they are stereotypes for a reason: because they're true! Rachel Griffiths puts in an outstanding performance as Annie Mary Pugh, and anyone who says that her accent detracts from the film is missing the point entirely. Besides; she doesn't sound like a New Zealander pretending to be Welsh, she sounds like she has a unique accent to go with her unique character - just like everyone else. The film is in English after all, not Welsh.
I watched this with local-born friends a few miles away from one of the set locations, and none of us felt that at any point was this film patronizing or that it suggested that life here/there is 20 or 30 years or so behind the times. I look out of my window and I see valleys just that green, shops with just that same panelling, a bread van and a Chapel community equally vibrant and a respect for the Eisteddfod that borders upon worship.
Do people really think that such great actors as Jonathan Pryce, Ruth Madoc, Ioan Griffiths and Matthew Rhys et al would sacrifice their integrity by all playing roles which cast a negative hue upon their heritage?
No. And they don't.
This film is sublime.

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Rating: - Weird, but endearing
Very Annie Mary is definitely one of the weirdest films I've seen and has some of the weirdest characters, including Annie Mary in the major role, but at the same time it certainly has its appeal and leaves a strong impression. Makes you laugh, makes you cry, makes you wonder. The story sounds simple when reading the summary, but you have to watch the story to see what can lie behind "simple" things. Like Annie Mary seems simple, simply simple-minded with not much to say or to think or to feel - but it's only the surface. You can see that Annie Mary has her own dreams, feelings, desires and is willing to fight for them, even if she does not / cannot do it like "normal" people do.
Rachel Griffith was great in this role, evoking all kinds of cathartic emotions: pity, liking, strong dislike sometimes and respect.

Sometimes I still don't know what to think of this film, but I certainly won't forget it in a long time to come.

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Rating: - The valleys are not this green!
This a a quirky film which promises much but delivers disappointingly little. Not enough is seen of a fabulous location in the South Wales valleys and this is ultimately a pretty patronising and stereotypical view of life there. They may be the 'valleys' but even so I don't think they are 20 or 30 years behind the times as suggested here. The film cannot seem to decide what it is all about. It is not funny enough to be comedy, not strong or interesting enough to be drama, not artistically adventurous enough to be fringe. A promising story is also spoiled by bad casting. The main character is played by Rachel Griffiths who sounds like a New Zealander and never quite manages a convincing Welsh accent. Perhaps this is why Annie Mary seems so stilted. She is certainly irritating and much too weird to invoke sympathy. Her father played by Jonathon Pryce is dark and sinister. His motives are inexplicable and his appeal to women unfathomable. There is no attention to continuity and so much is inexplicable that you can only assume the director was aiming for magic realism... although she doesnt say so when interviewed. To be fair, there are one or two moving and funny moments but on the whole the film was unbelievable and pretty daft.