DVD : Very Annie Mary [2001]

Rating: - Great comedy moments plus real life drama
The film stars Jonathan Pryce who serves up an outstanding performance as the overbearing father and Rachel Griffiths as the head in the clouds thirtysomething trying to break free from her domineering Pavarotti infatuated father.Genuine comedic moments plus thought provking real life drama.

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Rating: - surreal riches
This is a great movie - one my boyfriend has kept mentioning but despite his reservations in case he had overstated it all four of us watching laughed and laughed.

We are going to have a re-run because there was so much going on that we missed.

The whole seems surreal at the same time as drawing on human characteristics & situations that we all recognise.

The colours and textures of the sets and costumes were rich and gave a wonderfully appreciative sense of life despite the difficulties the area and characters faced.

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Rating: - What a Great British film!
This film was a huge and very pleasant surprise to me - purchased in a hurry with a number of other DVD's to keep the kids quiet while on holiday we sat down to watch, I was half expecting an American Teen Movie as I'd only glanced at the cover and what I got was what should be a british classic in the same league as The Commitments, 4 weddings & a funeral, etc. Brilliantly scripted and beautifully filmed it did what any great movie should do - it made me laugh, it made me cry, it left a great lasting impression when it finished, and it made me wish the film was longer! This is definately a film that I could watch again and again!

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Rating: - A quirky set up but a transcendant payoff for this one
I read where John Irving said recently that he always writes the end of his story first, and I have the feeling that writer-director Sara Sugarman did something along those lines with "Very Annie Mary." That is because there is a great ending to this one, or at least a great climax (how much you will think of the denouement is debatable). I know that part of it is being on emotional edge this week watching the news from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, but I really think that Sugarman provides a transcendent ending to the story of Annie Mary Pugh (Rachel Griffiths), who lives in a town in Wales. That explains why everybody speaks in a Welsh accent, not that we can imitate such the way we do an English, Irish or Scotch accent (ever notice in Shakespeare's "Henry V" that the comic relief is provided by four men: an Englishman, an Irishman, a Scott, and a Welshman; so that there are four different accents at play in their conversations).

Annie Mary's father, Jack (Jonathan Pryce), runs the local bakery and not only likes to sing like Pavarotti over the speaker system of his truck as he makes his deliveries, he dresses up like the great tenor (including a mask). Annie Mary used to sing too, and even won a contest 15 years ago that earned her a chance to study in Milan. But then her mother died and Annie Mary has not sung since. For reasons that only become clear if you think about it at the end, her father treats her abominably. For her birthday he gives her a cabbage, and when he is cold he makes her curl around his feet. Annie Mary has no luck with the boys in town, even though she offers to pay one for a kiss. Her best friend is Bethan Bevan (Joanna Page), a bedridden 16-year-old who is quite ill. It is only with Bethan that Annie Mary can watch the silent videotape of her and her mother 15 years ago when they were happy. Meanwhile, the mayor wants to raise money to send Bethan to Disneyland and Annie Mary would like to help.

Then her father suffers a stroke, and the responsibility for taking care of him and running the shop falls to Annie Mary. Eventually she realizes that she has the upper hand now, and with a new sense of freedom she paints the kitchen a ghastly color and decides to join a local female pop group for a talent contest in Cardiff where there is a prize of 1000 pounds. Is this a chance for redemption, a recipe for disaster, or both? More importantly, will this be the point when Bethan (and the audience) finally get to hear Annie Mary sing? Certainly she can do better than the weak Freddie Mercury imitation she attempts. Then there is the question of the house that Annie Mary waves at when she walks by it.

Annie Mary is an odd duck, but then most of the people in town are strange. While this is entertaining, it really does not set up the big ending as well as it might if this was less of a comic-tragedy and more of an outright tragic tale. After all, her father's actions towards her are truly despicable, and as a general rule I am not inclined to find that sort of abuse comic. The low point that Annie Mary reaches makes her not only a sad figure, but rather pathetic, and some viewers may find that their reservoir of sympathy towards her has run out. Certainly her few friends in town reach that point. But such doubts about her character do not deter from the gloriously transcendent moment that Annie Mary achieves thanks to her one true friend. Whatever problems there might be with the set up of the big moment, Sugarman and Griffith both deliver on that score.

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Rating: - Not without its faults, but...
It's probably difficult for any Welsh person (particularly any Welsh Jonathan Pryce fan!) to avoid giving this movie 10 out of 10. Yes, okay, it's overly sentimental and Rachel Griffiths's accent tends to slip in and out of gear but there are some terrific (genuine) Welsh accents to enjoy and the central cabaret act (Hinge, Minge, Twinge, Fringe and Brackett) has to be seen to be believed, not to mention Pryce's Pavarotti impersonations. It's a number one favourite with the victims of the Welsh diaspora!