Helen M Jerome reviews

Cert:

Running time: 107 minutes

Year: 2005

Released: 15th July 2005

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1

Widescreen: 2.35:1

---

Director:

Annie Griffin (TV: The Book Group, Coming Soon, Seven Sins: Wrath, Music: Pet Shop Boys Somewhere)

Producers:

Christopher Young

Screenplay:

Annie Griffin

Director of Photography:

Daniel Cohen (The Book Group, Dead Man's Shoes, Nathan Barley)

Music Score:

Jim Sutherland (Taggart, Blue Heaven)

Cast:

Petra: Raquel Cassidy
Sean Sullivan: Stephen Mangan
Joan Gerard: Daniela Nardini
Faith Myers: Lyndsey Marshal
Brother Mike: Clive Russell
Nicky: Lucy Punch
Tommy O'Dwyer: Chris O'Dowd
Conor: Billy Carter

Anyone lucky enough to have seen Annie Griffin's previous work, the fabulously dark sitcom The Book Group, knows she is an expert at juggling multiple characters and plots - while making you laugh and genuinely care about the flotsam and jetsam of their lives.

So you know you're in safe hands with her movie-directing debut, Festival, for Griffin was once one of the ambitious artistes at the Edinburgh Festival herself.

If you like infighting and backbiting and the minutiae of Edinburgh in August, or if you have performed at or witnessed similar events, then this will seem all too familiar. But the warning sticker on this ensemble comedy should inform you that while you're guffawing at the characters' exploits, you'll probably also find yourself awash with sadness for their situations.

They cannot live without approval and all are dysfunctional on some level. Whether they triumph or fail at the festival, their futures look precarious and nervous breakdowns beckon.

This timeless and frequently explicit journey around the nooks and crannies of the fringe lets us drop in on artistes and their perversely experimental acts as if we were regular, hyperactive, sleep-deprived audience members (and voyeuristic peeping toms).

Part Canterbury Tales (but now in Edinburgh), part Ben Jonson for the 21st Century, the central thread of this ribald chamber piece concerns the annual stand-up comedy award. Which gives us a chance to witness the hilarious, but all-too-credible judging process and the increasingly desperate actions of the contestants as they seek the jurors' approval while their own self-esteem is systematically dismantled.

Performances are universally strong and sympathetic, though Stephen Mangan's knowing impersonation of an egotistical 'comedy genius' might be stretching our sympathy a bit too far. Raquel Cassidy, who plays Mangan's put-upon publicist, gives a wonderful intense miniature of an alcoholic struggling to keep her charge, let alone her life, under control.

Daniel Nardini is perfect as the bitter radio journalist who despises pretty much everyone, especially the obnoxious Mangan, but she is forced to both report on and judge the festival. And we witness the aptly named Faith, played by Lyndsey Marshall, as she has her optimism tested at her first Edinburgh fringe while Brother Mike (Clive Russell) comes to terms with his - and his character's - inner turmoil.

Other sub-plots cover a frankly pretentious, visiting Canadian theatre group, two Irish comedians and veterans of the festival (Chris O'Dowd and Billy Carter) and new comedienne Nicky (Lucy Punch).

In the end, it doesn't really matter who wins the award, but the disastrous ceremony itself is marvellous. Similarly, it won't necessarily make you want to visit the festival, but will give you a better understanding of what makes those the weird and wonderful performers tick. A secret summer treat.

DIRECTION PERFORMANCES SCREENPLAY SOUND/MUSIC
OVERALL

Review copyright © Helen M Jerome 2005.

DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.

PC games reviewed by the editor are on: