Film

What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases

Search cinema listings

Browse cinemas A-Z

Search 20,000 reviews

 

My Life So Far (1999)

Director: Hugh Hudson

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

David Puttnam's production signs off with an ill-advised flourish, a biographical notation to the effect that young Fraser, our pubescent hero, grew up to become a TV executive and serve on the board of the English National Opera. As CVs go, it's not exactly Olympic Gold medal material - especially as the preceding 90 minutes or so leave us in no doubt that the lad grew up in the most privileged surroundings in the Scottish Highlands. Still, if you can stomach a boy who clings to the skirts of 'Mumsy' and 'Gramma' to protect him from 'The Hairy Man' (a shell-shocked tramp), Sir Denis Forman's memoir serves well enough as the basis for a gently nostalgic coming-of-age story with a tourist-friendly 1920s setting. It centres on Fraser's relationship with his dad (Firth), an inventor who takes special pride in his spagnum moss, thinks Louis Armstrong plays the devil's music, and loses face when he becomes besotted with exotic Aunt Heloise (Jacob). This all causes great suffering to Mumsy, but at least affords Mastrantonio a couple of strong emotional scenes and relieves us momentarily from Fraser's not terribly exciting adventures in the library. Lasse Hallström might have dug out the human comedy in it, but director Hudson only manages to cloy.

Author: TCh 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide


  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields





Top Stories

Review: Penélope Cruz more raunchy than ever in 'Nine'

Review: Penélope Cruz more raunchy than ever in 'Nine'

Dave Calhoun reports on Rob Marshall's Oscar-touted musical with Daniel Day-Lewis playing a troubled director

Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade

Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade

Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this

Jim Jarmusch on 'The Limits of Control'

Jim Jarmusch on 'The Limits of Control'

Jim Jarmusch has followed ‘Broken Flowers’ with an esoteric crime mystery. Dave Calhoun speaks to him from his New York office

Richard Linklater on 'Me and Orson Welles'

Richard Linklater on 'Me and Orson Welles'

Dave Calhoun meets the 49-year-old, Houston-born filmmaker Richard Linklater to discuss his new comedy

Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones

Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones

Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation

On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'

On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'

Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie

Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?

Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?

How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains

A gateway to all things 'New Moon'

A gateway to all things 'New Moon'

In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.

The films that deserve a TV spin-off

The films that deserve a TV spin-off

With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations

Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam

Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam

In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations