Locke

Seen at the Electric Cinema in Birmingham

Cecil says: We saw this film quite by chance as it was the cinema we were keen to visit, the Electric being the oldest working cinema in the UK, having first shown films in 1909.

We happened to be free for the Thursday matinée, so we decided to see whatever was on; always a risky business to do that, and I wasn't sure we'd enjoy what was described as a 'one man film' as the lone actor drives his car and deals with life on the journey.

It sounded somewhat similar to the notion of Redford's All is Lost, with not much potential for interaction and a focus on survival. I enjoyed Redford's film but didn't feel ready for any road version of the same.

In actual fact there were hardly any similarities.

Locke was thoroughly engaging right from the start, and there's quite a cast - of voices, at least - as Ivan Locke drives his car from somewhere north of Birmingham (felt very appropriate for this cinema) down to London and takes phone call after phone call to try to deal with the string of crises that have suddenly hit his life.

It's only as the film develops and you realise more about Ivan's life that the opening scene becomes significant. Keep an eye out for the moment when he sits at the red light with the big lorry behind him and clearly makes his decision.

On one level we see how resolute Ivan is: once he has taken this Decision, he will follow it through no matter what the consequences, and there are potentially dire consequences for both his personal and professional life.

But he is also basically a good man, who wants to do the right thing by the people he interacts with. The trouble is that his very linear logical approach to things works well in dealing with a major building project at work, but is less useful when it comes to emotional issues.

I loved Ivan's resourcefulness at solving the work issues, and learnt a fair bit about cement in the process (!), though I'm not sure I'd have taken the same decisions or said the same things as he did in the emotional situations. In fact, I don't think I'd have made that car journey at all if I'd been him, but I don't want to say too much for fear of plot-spoiling...

Tom Hardy was brilliant as Ivan Locke; I loved the character of Donal (voiced by Andrew Scott); and I could feel empathy for all his family back at home (Eddie, Sean and wife Katrina).

And thanks also to the Electric's manager for the day who chatted to us at the end about how Director Steven Knight had done a Q&A on the opening night, and revealed that they had sat Hardy in a car 16 days in a row, with the actors sitting on phones in hotel rooms making the calls; they ran through the script 16 times straight and then edited the final cut from those 16 takes.

Brilliant! And loved the result. Oh, and great cinema too (though fewer old fittings in the room we saw it in than in Thirsk's Ritz Cinema - 1912 - for example...)

****

Bea says: 
When Cecil outlined the plot for this film I didn't feel a great desire to see it, as I was worried it would be too "male" - about one man driving - and I would be bored.

As Cecil says above though, nothing was further from the truth and in fact this is an engaging, narrative-led film about marriage, mistakes, mid life, parenthood, and work.  These are themes that most of us can relate to, and in fact the way they are presented and portrayed means that there is significant space to think about other options and ways of doing things - this is something I really liked about the film.  As Ivan speaks on the phone, and occasionally to himself, the very lack of action on screen means that there is time to think "would I say that?", "would I decide to do that?".

Ivan's character is quite likeable, and in fact I recognised in the desperate unravelling of his life moments when my life has felt like that - suddenly everything sliding out of reach.  Really well-written.  Sterling job from Tom Hardy.  Highly recommended.

***