Living (2022)
Director: Oliver Hermanus
Screenwriters: Kazuo Ishiguro
Starring: Bill Nighy, Alex Sharp, Aimee Lou Wood, Tom Burke

Touching one of the most revered films by one of the most revered directors to ever call ‘Action’ on a film set is always a tricky business. And when it’s Akira Kurosawa you’re remaking – specifically his 1952 film Ikiru – you had better hope that your film is damn good. Living (2022) attempts to do such a thing, transplanting post-war Japan for post-war Britain. It sees Bill Nighy take on the lead role of Mr Williams, an elderly civil servant mindlessly going through the motions, who goes on a search for a new meaning to life when he is dealt a cruel blow in the doctor’s office.

There has not been much change from the original film, which was released 70 years ago. Indeed, many shots and sequences, (including a shot of Mr Williams’ vacant seat framed centrally with his subordinates either side of the picture, a wipe montage sequence of a group of petitioning ladies going from department to department to be seen to with no luck, and the famous shot of our lonely wanderer on a child’s swing) are all lifted directly from the original. This is simply a British re-telling of the film, not an attempt to do anything radically new with the subject matter. It is almost identical, save for a slight modification of a few sequences, a condensing in runtime by about half an hour, and some fun experiments with film form with regards to its quality and some periods of black and white photography. The choice to present Living in a smaller aspect ratio of 1.48:1 keeps it contained and subdued, perhaps also reflecting the time period in which this aspect ratio was far more common.

What could be an incredibly run-of-the-mill adaptation still holds great power for numerous reasons. That the core story is moving by default, is the first. Secondly, Bill Nighy (nominated in the Actor in a Leading Role category at the 95th Oscars) is utterly astonishing. Simply portrayed, yet heartbreaking and incredibly moving, he is a delight in every frame that passes by. He’s perfectly suited to the role, and excels beyond imagination. The supporting cast of Aimee Lou Wood (‘Sex Education’), Tom Burke (The Souvenir), Alex Sharp (The Trial of the Chicago 7), and others, are also on point, and lend great support to the central pillar. The score from Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch, who also composed for British independent films Rocks and Censor, is fabulous, the world of post-war Britain well realised with what is plainly a smaller budget, and the direction from South African Oliver Hermanus (Moffie) is simple and refined.

What more could one ask for? Well… perhaps the exclusion of a section of dialogue on a train three quarters of the way through; one which is so excruciatingly painful and on-the-nose – a literal explanation of the message of the film incorporating gag-worthy speeches – that even a five year old would wish to throw up. Such a beautifully nuanced film is almost completely derailed by what seems to be a lack of common sense from BAFTA-nominated screenwriter Kazuo Ishiguro. Cut that dialogue, have it be told through subtext, and we’re bordering on as near flawless as we can get.

One must wish that this single exchange was left on the cutting room floor, though this disappointing sequence ultimately doesn’t detract from the rest of what is a well-constructed and interesting adaptation. Living, the 2022 period drama based on a story from 7 decades ago, is certainly a film one could go on living for.

Score: 19/24

Living is on digital 3 March and Blu-ray & DVD 13 March 2023.

Debuting screenwriter-director Charlotte Wells and her film Aftersun were the big winners at an evolved 2022 British Independent Film Awards.

Sunday 4th December saw the airing of the Twenty-Fifth British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs). Presented by Ben Bailey Smith in London, the ceremony awarded the very best of British independent film from the past year.

The biggest success of the night was Aftersun, Charlotte Wells’ stunningly poignant debut. Starring Paul Mescal and newcomer Frankie Corio, the drama explores the complex relationship between a daughter and her father whilst on holiday. The film received critical praise, with The Film Magazine giving it a perfect score. Aftersun picked up seven awards, including Best Director and Best British Independent Film, the latter of which was presented by Mescal’s ‘Normal People’ co-star Daisy Edgar-Jones. Aftersun‘s victory here could pave the way for BAFTA success.

2022 also marked the first time the ceremony awarded gender neutral acting awards. Previously, separate awards were given to actors and actresses. These categories were retooled as Best Lead Performance and Best Supporting Performance respectively. The recipients of these awards, Rosy McEwen and Kerrie Hayes, both starred in Blue Jean, Georgia Oakley’s heartbreaking LGBTQ+ drama.

Further new acting categories included Best Joint Lead Performance and Best Ensemble Performance. The former was awarded to Tamara Lawrance and Letitia Wright for their work in The Silent Twins, while the latter was picked up by Our River… Our Sky.

Sinéad O’Connor documentary, Nothing Compares, dominated its field, winning Best Feature Documentary and Best Debut Director for Feature Documentary – which was awarded to Kathryn Ferguson.

Finally, The Worst Person in the World received the award for Best International Independent Film. Joachim Trier’s romantic comedy faced stiff competition from the likes of Everything Everywhere All at Once and Decision to Leave, but was able to come out on top.

The winners of the 2022 British Independent Film Awards:

Best British Independent Film – Aftersun
Blue Jean
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
Living
The Wonder

Best Director – Charlotte Wells (Aftersun)
Oliver Hermanus (Living)
Sophie Hyde (Good Luck to You, Leo Grande)
Sebastian Lelio (The Wonder)
Georgia Oakley (Blue Jean)

Best Screenplay – Charlotte Wells (Aftersun)
Katy Brand (Good Luck to You, Leo Grande)
Kazuo Ishiguro (Living)
Sebastian Lelio, Alice Birch, Emma Donoghue (The Wonder)
Georgia Oakley (Blue Jean)

Best Lead Performance – Rosy McEwen (Blue Jean)
Sally Hawkins (The Lost King)
Cosmo Jarvis (It Is in Us All)
Emma Mackey (Emily)
Bill Nighy (Living)
Florence Pugh (The Wonder)
Emily Watson (God’s Creatures)
Hala Zein (Nezouh)

Best Supporting Performance – Kerrie Hayes (Blue Jean)
Zoey Deutch (The Outfit)
Aisling Franciosi (God’s Creatures)
Lucy Halliday (Blue Jean)
Zainab Joda (Our River…Our Sky)
Fatma Mohamed (Flux Gourmet)
Paul Mescal (God’s Creatures)
Fionn Whitehead (Emily)
Aimee Lou Wood (Living)

Best Joint Lead Performance – Tamara Lawrance, Letitia Wright (The Silent Twins)
Frankie Corio, Paul Mescal (Aftersun)
Daryl McCormack, Emma Thompson (Good Luck to You, Leo Grande)
Jessie Buckley, Rory Kinnear (Men)

Best Ensemble Performance – Our River…Our Sky
Blue Jean
Emily
Flux Gourmet
The Wonder

Breakthrough Performance – Safia Oakley-Green (The Origin)
Frankie Corio (Aftersun)
Leo Long (I Used to Be Famous)
Kila Lord Cassidy (The Wonder)
Rosy McEwen (Blue Jean)

The Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director – Charlotte Wells (Aftersun)
Andrew Cumming (The Origin)
Thomas Hardiman (Medusa Deluxe)
Frances O’Connor (Emily)
Georgia Oakley (Blue Jean)

Breakthrough Producer – Nadira Murray (Winners)
Aleksandra Bilic, Jennifer Corcoran (Nascondino)
Paul Kennedy (Nightride)
Rupert Majendie (Brian and Charles)
Helene Sifre (Blue Jean)

Best Debut Screenwriter – Georgia Oakley (Blue Jean)
Shane Crowley (God’s Creatures)
David Earl, Chris Hayward (Brian and Charles)
Ruth Greenberg (The Origin)
Charlotte Wells (Aftersun)

Best Debut Director for Feature Documentary – Kathryn Ferguson (Nothing Compares)
Victoria Fiore (Nascondino)
Leah Gordon, Eddie Hutton Mills (Kanaval)
Jono McLeod (My Old School)
Becky Hutner (Fashion Reimagined)

The Raindance Discovery Award – Winners
Electric Malady
Fadia’s Tree
Off the Rails
Rebellion

Best Feature Documentary – Nothing Compares
My Childhood, My Country
My Old School
Nascondino
Young Plato

Best British Short Film – Too Rough
A Fox in The Night
Honesty
Sandstorm
Scale

Best International Independent Film – The Worst Person in The World
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Close
Decision To Leave
Everything Everywhere All at Once

Best Casting – Shaheen Baig (Blue Jean)
Leila Bertrand (Our River… Our Sky)
Kharmel Cochrane (The Silent Twins)
Kahleen Crawford (Living)
Lucy Pardee (Aftersun)

Best Cinematography – Gregory Oke (Aftersun)
Alfredo De Juan (Nascondino)
Rob Hardy (Men)
Joel Honeywell (Kanaval)
Ari Wegner (The Wonder)

Best Costume Design – Jenny Beavan (Mrs Harris Goes to Paris)
Saffron Cullane (Flux Gourmet)
Odile Dicks-Mireaux (The Wonder)
Frank Gallacher (Aftersun)
Sandy Powell (Living)

Best Editing – Blair McClendon (Aftersun)
Joanna Crickmay (Elizabeth: A Portrait in Parts)
Izabella Curry (Blue Jean)
Matyas Fekete (Flux Gourmet)
Mick Mahon (Nothing Compares)

Best Original Music – Matthew Herbert (The Wonder)
Saunder Jurriaans (God’s Creatures)
Oliver Coates (Aftersun)
Adam Janota Bzowski (The Origin)
Ben Salisbury, Geoff Barrow (Men)

Best Makeup & Hair Design – Eugene Souleiman, Scarlett O’Connell (Medusa Deluxe)
Oya Aygor, Murat Çagin (Aftersun)
Morna Ferguson, Lorri Ann King (The Wonder)
Siobhan Harper-Ryan (Flux Gourmet)
Niamh Morrison (The Origin)

Best Effects – David Simpson (Men)
Chris Marshall (The Feast)
Ahmed Yousry (Nezouh)

Best Music Supervision – Lucy Bright (Aftersun)
Phil Canning (The Phantom of the Open)
Rupert Hollier (Living)

Best Sound – Flux Gormet
Men
Aftersun
The Wonder
The Feast

Best Production Design – Living
Flux Gourmet
The Wonder
Aftersun
Medusa Deluxe

The Richard Harris Award For Outstanding Contribution By An Actor To British Film
Samantha Morton

The Special Jury Prize
Open Door

Follow @thefilmagazine on Twitter for more awards season coverage.

In this Movie List from The Film Magazine, we’re counting down the most emotionally resonant, funny and important moments from Love Actually for these, the 10 Best Love Actually Moments.

Follow @thefilmagazine on Twitter.

10. Colin Goes to an American Bar

After deciding he is on the wrong continent for love, Colin Frissell (Kris Marshall) travels to America, because “any bar anywhere in America contains ten girls more beautiful and more likely to have sex with [him] than the whole of the United Kingdom”.

Sure enough, not one but three beautiful American women are charmed by his cute British accent and invite him to their place (after warning him that they only have one bed and no pyjamas).

Colin’s Christmas gets even merrier when they tell him that he hasn’t met their fourth housemate Harriet, and “she is the sexy one”.

9. So Much More Than a Bag

In a rush to buy an expensive gold necklace for the woman with whom he may or may not be having an affair, Harry (Alan Rickman) wants to grab it and go, but the shop assistant (Rowan Atkinson) has other plans when he agrees to have it gift wrapped.

After placing it in a box, he ties it with a bow before delicately wrapping it in cellophane. Rickman anxiously glances over his shoulder as Atkinson slides open a drawer to retrieve tiny, dried roses, which he sprinkles lovingly. Atkinson then meticulously crushes fresh lavender. An increasingly agitated Rickman urges the man to hurry, to which he agrees, before slowly attaching a large cinnamon stick with a ribbon. As Atkinson retrieves a pair of garden gloves to add some holly, an exasperated Rickman asks – “what else are you going to do? Dip it in yoghurt? Cover it in chocolate buttons?!” All the while, his wife Karen grows increasingly near.

Across just 122 minutes, Matthew Warchus’ film manages to explore the miners’ strike, the gay liberation movement, and the beginning of the AIDS crisis.

Pride is based on the true story of LGSM (Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners), and the group’s relationship with a small Welsh mining town. LGSM was set up in 1984 by Mark Ashton‎ (played here by Ben Schnetzer) and Mike Jackson (Joseph Gilgun), and raised £22,500 for striking miners. Pride is the story of the wholesome meeting of two different worlds.

Below, in this Movie List from The Film Magazine, are 5 reasons why Pride is one of the best films of the 21st Century. Spoilers ahead.

Make sure to follow us on Twitter to make sure you never miss another list like this one.

1. The Blending of Political Agendas

“I support you whoever you are, hand to hand, shoulder to shoulder, as it should be.”

Pride is unashamedly political, and carefully combines two previously unrelated groups – striking miners, and gay and lesbian activists.

The film does not focus too much on negativity, but makes it clear that it is not shying away from the realities of life for marginalised groups. We see Gethin (Andrew Scott) cleaning graffiti from the front window of his bookshop “Gay’s the Word”, as well as the material realities of striking for the miners, such as Dai (Paddy Considine) having his gas and electricity cut off.

Although Mark’s (Ben Schnetzer’s) politics are watered down for the film – he was a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (a moment touched upon in a bar scene when someone shouts “commie” at him) – Pride has politics at its core; it’s difficult to watch this film and not feel genuine sympathy for the plight of its characters, each being oppressed by forces in government and wider society.

2. A Great Coming Out Scene

A conversation takes place between Cliff (Bill Nighy) and Hefina (Imelda Staunton) as they make sandwiches for the miners. Hefina is telling Cliff off for the indelicate way he is cutting the sandwich. After a few silent moments, Cliff simply says “I’m gay”, to which Hefina replies, “I know”.

You can sense Cliff’s relief at finally being able to say this out loud. He’s a quiet and reserved character, and it brings such joy to finally see Cliff moving someway towards accepting his true self.

This is a sensitive moment, delicately shot. Hefina tells Cliff she has known since 1968, and carries on buttering the bread. As far as coming out scenes go, this is one of the best in cinema, as it is perfect for the journey that we have seen this character go on.

Without the need for fanfare or a parade, Cliff is shown acceptance and love by Hefina. Other coming out scenes should take note.

Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Director: Edgar Wright
Screenwriters: Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright
Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield, Lucy Davis, Dylan Moran, Peter Serafinowicz, Rafe Spall, Bill Nighy

16 years after its release, Shaun of the Dead remains one of the best loved British comedies of the contemporary era; a release that, alongside its fellow Cornetto Trilogy entries Hot Fuzz and The World’s End, has had a profound effect on the British cinematic landscape.

The much loved sitcom ‘Spaced’ (1999-2001) launched the careers of its stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, as well as director Edgar Wright. Over the past two decades, the trio have all come to have considerable success on both sides of the Atlantic, with Pegg finding major roles in both the Mission: Impossible & Star Trek franchises, Frost starring in hits like Fighting with My Family, and Wright going on to direct cult favourites like Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World and 2017’s hugely successful Baby Driver.

Rewatching Shaun of the Dead following the success later achieved by those involved is fascinating as it offers glimpses behind the success of the aforementioned trio. The film focuses on Shaun (Pegg) and Ed (Frost), a pair of unhappy late 20s flatmates struggling to get by in London – there is also heavy focus on the struggling relationship between Shaun and his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield). The early parts of the film play out almost like a buddy film, or a rom-com, such is the blend of laddish humour and focus given to Shaun and Liz’s relationship.

Coming fresh off the heels of ‘Spaced’ there are clear comparisons to be drawn, and Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg have mentioned how the show had a heavy influence on the film in many interviews over the years since, but much rather than it being a carbon copy of the cult favourite TV sitcom, these influences are minimal and help to provide the film with a degree of familiarity to those in-the-know, while never being overwhelming to those who aren’t – Pegg’s ‘Spaced’ co-star Jessica Hynes (then Stevenson) appears in a recurring cameo role for example, an element of Shaun of the Dead that is both in tribute to the filmmakers’ days on television but also unique to the film.

In addition, Shaun of the Dead is clearly made as a tribute to zombie and horror films, particularly those of horror icon George A. Romero – most obviously Dawn of the Dead (where this film got its name), itself a second entry into Romero’s own zombie movie series following Night of the Living Dead.

There are frequent examples underlining why Wright is seen as one of the most talented British directors of his generation in Shaun of the Dead. An extended tracking shot in the opening sequence following Shaun from his flat to the local shop is a fantastic piece of cinematography, and the choice to mirror this with the same shot later in the film once the world has been turned upside down by zombies is one that is both intelligently cinematic and truly funny. The misdirects early in the film are of the highest comedic sensibility too, with the use of imagery to evoke the pending zombie arrival providing some fantastic sight gags.

The humour is a huge part of what makes the film work and much of this comes down to the chemistry between Pegg and Frost. We are introduced to several recurring motifs from the rest of the Cornetto Trilogy with gags about shops, fence hurdling and pub fights all reappearing in some shape or form in Hot Fuzz and The World’s End. In spite of this, the screenplay of Wright and Pegg manages to blend more serious moments with its outright comedy, realising a surprising amount depth and character development for a film of its genre.

The use of music is crucial to many of Wright’s films, particularly Baby Driver, and Shaun of the Dead is no exception. Music is used to incredible effect, opening to The Specials’ “Ghost Town” and featuring multiple Queen tracks, “Don’t Stop Me Now” taking on a life of its own as the now iconic soundtrack to the pub brawl in the final act. In keeping with this marrying of music and film, one of the film’s best gags revolves around which of Shaun’s vinyl collection should be used as weapons against the Zombies, he and Ed having a back and forth regarding the importance of certain records as they fight off one of their slow but seemingly unstoppable foes.

Shaun of the Dead has amassed legions of fans in the 16 years since its release, with Empire Magazine placing it 6th in its list of Top 100 British Films and horror icon Stephen King dubbing it “10 on the fun meter and destined to be a cult classic”. It’s clear to see why this opening Cornetto Trilogy film has come to be so beloved and influential amongst comedy filmmakers, the first cinematic collaboration between Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright being a superbly written and acted film that lays an outstanding platform from which the trio have reached to great heights; one of the earliest examples of Wright’s unique brilliance at blending humour and pathos.

19/24

Written by Christopher Connor

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Twitter – @chrisconnor96

For this list, we’ve analysed the contemporary era of cinema (1970 and beyond) for the very best rom-com ensemble casts that came to define eras, surprise audiences and ultimately sell their film, whether the picture could be considered good or not.

As a rule, we’ve avoided films that are firmly attached to other genres, such as musicals like Grease and La La Land or dramas like The Silver Linings Playbook and Shakespeare In Love (all of which have rom-com elements), and have judged all casts based on casts alone – beware, there may be some seriously trash movies in the list ahead!

In no particular order…

1. No Strings Attached (2011)

Starring that year’s Best Actress Oscar winner Natalie Portman and arguably the decade’s most trustworthy go-to rom-com leading man Ashton Kutcher, this early 2010s offering from Ivan Reitman, the director of Ghostbusters (1984), featured a stacked cast of future industry leaders including Oscar-nominated director Greta Gerwig and multi-time Emmy nominee Mindy Kaling.

Oscar winning actor Kevin Kline played Kutcher’s father, meanwhile Lake Bell, Ophelia Lovibond, Ludacris and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’s Jake Johnson offered their two cents in some of the film’s smaller roles, filling No Strings Attached to the brim with some of the decade’s most influential and recognisable names.

Cast: Natalie Portman, Ashton Kutcher, Kevin Kline, Lake Bell, Cary Elwes, Greta Gerwig, Olivia Thirlby, Ludacris, Mindy Kaling, Jake Johnson, Ophelia Lovibond

2. You’ve Got Mail (1998)

The 2nd half of the Meg Ryan/Tom Hanks rom-com double bill, You’ve Got Mail, also directed by Nora Ephron (When Harry Met Sally), peaks its older sister to this slot due to each of its stars (particularly Hanks) being even closer to the top of their game, with the supporting cast being nothing short of a who’s who of top class late 90s names.

Leading male Tom Hanks had won two Oscars between Sleepless In Seattle and You’ve Got Mail (for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump) and was about to win his 3rd for 1998’s Saving Private Ryan, while the supporting cast featured that year’s Supporting Actor Oscar nominee Greg Kinnear, award-winning comedian Dave Chappelle, Steve Zahn, Parker Posey and even Chris Messina in a small role.

Cast: Meg Ryan, Tom Hanks, Greg Kinnear, Parker Posey, Dave Chappelle, Steve Zahn, Heather Burns, Jean Stapleton, Chris Messina

“About Time” follows Tim, aged 21, as he discovers his ability to travel into and adjust his past and what that means for his future love, family, and work life. Basically, if you could have endless do-overs, how would you use them?

A friend once told me that you can’t have a good movie without a good script. Richard Curtis (Love Actually), writer and director of “About Time”, fully grasped this concept. The writing was heartfelt and mature in a very rare way. It discusses serious issues such as fate versus the choices we make and growing through conflicts, be them learning how to time travel effectively or overcoming everyday vices. Now, don’t get the wrong idea, even in its darkest moments this film carried with it a sense of lighthearted realness. It was almost as if the actors weren’t acting, they were just showcasing real lives and real people and, believe it or not, the time travel aspect of this film fit in perfectly. It was extremely believable.

Now, it would not have been nearly as believable if the actors hadn’t done such a phenomenal job. After all, a good script can’t go all that far without good actors. The intro – the score paired with Domhnall Gleeson’s voiceover as Tim – lends a familiar feeling. It’s almost hard to describe but even if you’re watching this movie for the first time, you feel as if you’re revisiting an old friend. Maybe its familiarity is in Gleeson’s tone or in the intimate and sarcastically comedic conversations he soon shares with Bill Nighy, Tim’s incredibly wise father in the movie. Maybe it’s in Rachel McAdams’ classic hair-tuck-smile and giggle (Because, come on, what’s a rom-com/drama without Rachel McAdams)? Or, more likely, familiar feelings can be found in just about every aspect of the film. I think that’s what it was going for – a universal and constant feeling of empathy for the characters.

Another important note with regard to the characters was that there were really no minor roles. Every character in the film had a specific, maybe even polarizing personality type, and they were all there for a reason. People that the viewer may have written off at the beginning of the movie such as Uncle Desmond played by Richard Cordery, or Tim’s best friend Jay played by Will Merrick, would revisit the audience with profound thoughts or renewed importance later in the movie. These characters reinforce the theme that everyone you meet makes a difference in your life and affect even the smallest of decisions you make in the future.

The one thing I had a problem with concerning this film was its marketing. If you watch the trailer, it’s engaging and endearing, yes, but it’s also misleading. The trailer would have you believe that the film is solely a romantic comedy with all of the essential cliches mixed in. However, there is so much more depth to it all. Every person, every event, every decision, every little thing – even the occasional silence – means something and illustrates how each can affect the rest of your life. The trailer should have tried to capture that more appropriately.

From the get-go this film instantly became one of my favorites. There’s a lovely familiarity about it, despite the twists and turns you definitely won’t see coming. The actors move rhythmically along with their lives, letting their paths cross organically or, specifically in Tim’s case, creating their own paths. Everything is interesting and engaging and descriptive and lovely. Also, cameos from actresses and actors like Margot Robbie and the late, great Richard Griffiths only add to the film goer’s experience. If you’re looking for a great under-the-radar film, this fits the bill perfectly. It’s because of all this and the many emotional spoilers I simply couldn’t ruin for you (because you should really go watch the movie), that I’d give About Time a…

20/24

Definitely second best.

Three years ago I completely fell in love with The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, a rare western film set in Asia that didn’t pander to Orientalism, that didn’t fetishise the natives or portray them as ‘uncivilised’ and-or ‘uneducated’. Instead, it dealt with a fate that awaits most of us: retirement and old age – as well as the associated loneliness and lack of purpose that quite often goes with it. Not to mention the concept of “outsourcing” old age, “like the Costa Brava, but with more elephants”. So, when I heard there was going to be a sequel I was both excited and nervous.

While the first film is narrated by Judi Dench’s character Evelyn Greenslade, the second is told through the eyes of Maggie Smith’s Muriel Donnelly, who is now co-manager of the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, trying to keep owner Sonny’s head out of the clouds. Set approximately six months after the end of the first film, and with Sonny’s hotel now full to capacity, the original guests are joined by Richard Gere and Tamsin Greig, neither of whom are who they first appear to be. The main cast is completed by Penelope Wilton who returns as the ever-irritating Jean Ainslie, venturing back to Jaipur only to ask husband Douglas for a divorce before moving on to Mumbai with daughter Laura.

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel focuses less on the older cast members that the first film centred around, and more on Sonny and Sunaina’s upcoming wedding and Sonny’s attempts to buy a second hotel to expand his business – to be appropriately named The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. However, Sonny seems to keep running into the same problem over and over again, a problem named Kush – long time friend of his fiancée Sunaina’s family returning to Jaipur to invest his father’s money in a hotel.

While much of the comedy in the first film came mainly from the culture clash the ex-pats faced, and their attempts to adapt to life in India and integrate into the local community, six months down the line the comedic culture clash has run its course and they have all managed to find their place in Jaipur with them working somewhere in the city. As such, the story becomes much more of a drama than a comedy. There are still a few comedic moments to be had here and there – Norman accidentally sort of hiring a hitman to run down girlfriend Carol in a tuk-tuk for example – but overall the comedy flows a lot less freely and feels a bit more forced, with much of it coming from Sonny’s awkward run-ins with Kush.

What it lacks in laughs, it more than makes up for visually. Much like its predecessor, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is beautiful, with its bright colours and stunning scenery, along with its well-written drama – from Evelyn and Douglas’s very slow moving relationship to Madge Hardcastle trying to decide which of her rich Indian suitors she wishes to marry, to Muriel’s coming to terms with her own mortality as her check-up at the local doctors reveals some bad news.

In conclusion, while it fails to quite live up to the high bar set by the first film, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel does still impress with the main cast putting in faultless performances from your typical bumbling Brit Douglas to foul mouthed and no nonsense Muriel. And although the older cast members take a little bit of a back seat with Dev Petel and Tena Desai taking more of a starring role as betrothed couple Sonny and Sunaina, all of their stories opened up in the first film are fully explored and left open just enough for that rumoured third instalment. At the same time the story stays true to its original themes of finding your place in the world (no matter your age) and how you are never too old to do something new. And, of course, Sonny’s motto from the very beginning of this Indian adventure: Everything will be alright in the end. If it is not alright then it is not yet the end.

17/24