Sundance 2011 Review: TYRANNOSAUR
Tyrannosaur was one heavy emotional ride. This film is a deep dark story about two individuals that find each other in the most excruciatingly intense moment of their lives. One character named Joseph is a broken human being who lashes out with uncontrollable violence. The other character, a woman named Hannah, hides her very heavy life problems behind the facade of a Christian charity shop and her faith in the God. These two people reluctantly form a bond with each other, they help one another cope with the problems that life has thrown at them, and guide each other in the direction of being healed and finding redemption.
The film was directed by actor Paddy Considine, and he did a pretty incredible job telling this story for a first-time director. Considne created an incredibly intense drama, but it was the performances that takes this film to a whole other level. Peter Mullan (Session 9) played Joseph in the film and he was absolutely fantastic! This is by far the best performance of his career. He just blew up on screen with an incredible amount of sheer power. Olivia Colman played Hannah and she was spot on perfect. Both actors gave performance worthy of best actor and best actress nominations.
This movie isn’t for everyone, but if you think this sounds like something you would want to see then definitely take the time to see it. It is worth watching once. I don’t think I would want to sit through it again just because it’s one of those films that drains the energy out of you. It’s a devastatingly beautiful film.
Here is the official synopsis of the movie:
Joseph (Peter Mullan), a tormented, self-destructive man plagued by violence, finds hope of redemption in Hannah (Olivia Colman), a Christian charity-shop worker he meets one day while fleeing an altercation. Initially derisive of her faith and presumed idyllic existence, Joseph nonetheless returns to the shop and soon realizes that Hannah’s life is anything but placid. As a relationship develops, they come to understand the deep pain in each other’s lives.