Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageVery Annie-Mary (2000)
Director: Sara Sugarman
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Welsh writer/director Sugarman's second feature is an uneven, sometimes awkward but ultimately winning parable about female emancipation and small town claustrophobia. It's set in the Valleys, in the former mining community of Ogw, and Sugarman revels in its looped cadence. Here Annie-Mary (Griffiths) cooks and cleans for her da, Jack Pugh (Pryce), the town baker. Pugh is loved for his wonderful tenor voice, but he's a tyrannical father who treats his daughter more like a maid than his own flesh and blood. Very broad, this opening, with Annie-Mary apparently still a teenager at heart, her development forestalled by the death of her mam just as she was on the point of taking up a singing scholarship in Milan. Sugarman finds more emotional focus when Pugh suffers a stroke but selfishly refuses to die. So the cruel indignities add up. It's only when she joins some local lassies for a talent contest that Annie-Mary gets a chance to prove herself. Griffiths throws herself into this ugly duckling role with characteristic aplomb: hair in buns, dressed in hand-me-downs, but with those beseeching eyes - it's as if this time she gets to play Hilary and Jackie.Author: TCh
User reviews of this film
-
- Steve said...
- Posted on Mar 24 2008 13:15 An original heart endearing laugh out load roller coaster ride of emotion. Pure genius
- Report as inappropriate
Cast & crew
Director: Sara Sugarman
Producer: Graham Broadbent, Damian Jones
Cast: Rachel Griffiths, Jonathan Pryce, Ioan Gruffudd, Matthew Rhys, Kenneth Griffith, Ruth Madoc, Grafton Radcliffe full cast
Duration: 104 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Has David Cronenberg turned tame?
Has director David Cronenberg veered too far from his radical and bloody roots with new film 'A Dangerous Method'?
The 10 worst date movies
Just in time for Valentine's Day, we present ten of the least romantic films ever made
Where to watch this year's Oscar-nominated films
Find out where to watch 2012's Oscar-nominated films in London cinemas
10 unlikely badboy biopics
Featuring Phil Collins, Jeremy Clarkson, Nick Clegg, David Starkey and a host of other unlikely subjects
Interview: Sean Durkin on 'Martha Marcy May Marlene'
The first-time director of the brilliant new thriller discusses religious cults and robot boxing
Pop-up cinema for Valentine's Day
Side-step romantic clichés with some alternative Valentine’s viewing
What do you think?
Post your review now