Boxing Day
Directed by Bernard Rose
UK, 2012
Cornerhouse, 22 December 2012
It is a curious coupling, a road movie based on a story by Tolstoy, but it’s a satisfying one nonetheless.
These two flawful men, one a property speculator and the other his hired driver, form an uneasy bond. It is the day after Christmas and they drive around looking at abandoned houses – the families having been evicted once their credit had gone – unaware of how uncertain, how fragile and fleeting, life’s embrace actually is. Picturesque mountains draped in luminescent snow form the background, as one of them blithely pursues profit at other people’s expense.
The film meanders at certain moments, it’s fair to say, but it is moving in the end. You get your pay-off as a viewer. And few films are as stylishly shot and as splendidly performed: Danny Huston and Matthew Jacobs’ characters are perfectly realised.
Jildy Sauce 