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The Possibilities Are Endless

  • Film
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended
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Time Out says

4 out of 5 stars

Taking its title from one of the four phrases Edwyn Collins was able to say following a major stroke in 2005 (the others were ‘yes’, ‘no’ and his wife’s name, ‘Grace Maxwell’), this gorgeously photographed documentary elliptically tracks the singer-songwriter’s slow route back to some kind of normal life.

Those hoping for a blow-by-blow rock doc will be disappointed. There are fragments of live and studio footage here, but the focus is very much on Collins’s state of mind, his struggle for language and clear thought, and his relationship with the redoubtable Maxwell. Many of the techniques directors James Hall and Edward Lovelace use to draw their audience inside Collins’s fractured mind are powerfully effective – shots of rolling waves and barren landscapes, soundtracked by distorted drones and fragments of speech. Others, however, such as their employment of Collins’s own son William as a stand-in for his father’s youthful self, feel a touch manipulative.

Still, this is a fascinating, artful take on a complex subject, and a captivating look at a man battling to rediscover his place in the world.

Written by Tom Huddleston

Release Details

  • Release date:Friday 7 November 2014
  • Duration:83 mins

Cast and crew

  • Director:James Hall, Edward Lovelace
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