Some films pull no punches in their on-screen brutality while pulling all sorts of punches in other ways. Writer-director Paddy Considine's grim yet tidy slice of pain, "Tyrannosaur," serves as this week's example. The film won over many passionate admirers on the festival circuit, and the acting — particularly the moving performance of Olivia Colman as a battered spouse living in a grim corner of Leeds, England — is fierce and committed. So why doesn't its impact linger?
Before we meet Colman's character, Hannah, we spend a bruising prologue with the main character, an unemployed, rageful borderline alcoholic played by Peter Mullan of the upcoming "War Horse." A widower of five years, Joseph kicks his own dog to death after a rough night at the pub. ("Tyrannosaur" is an expansion of Considine's 2007 short film, "Dog Altogether.") A later trip to a bar leads to an attack on three obnoxious lads playing pool. Across the street from Joseph's home lives a hard-luck single mother and her young son, who is clearly being put in harm's way by the mother's sociopathic boyfriend, the one with the pit bull. Everyone is at risk, perpetually.
Joseph meets Hannah when he stumbles into her Christian consignment shop one day. She's a generous soul, miserably exploited by her abusive husband (Eddie Marsan). How Joseph and Hannah help each other see what's corroding them from the inside forms the simple structure of Considine's film, dominated in a rather obvious way by the glowering, fixed, unblinking intensity of Mullan's portrayal, and transcended by the more subtle shadings brought by Colman.
The film hammers home the impoverished emotional lives of its characters. Yet Considine never risks alienating Joseph from the audience, even with that provocative dog murder at the outset. Each new obstacle or petty aggravation in Joseph's path exists as one in a series of cheap revenge or one-upmanship moments. The result is a picture that is baldly manipulative yet weirdly sentimental, and while Considine (a fine actor) can write, he is capable also of writing dialogue you've heard before. (Hannah: "I feel safe with you." Joseph: "Nobody's safe with me.") Still, Colman's exceptional. For many she'll be more than enough.
'Tyrannosaur' -- 2 stars
No MPAA rating (violence, language, sexual content)
Running time: 1:31
Opening: Friday
