It's the year 2027. Swarms of illegal migrants are flooding into the UK, and police state Britain with all cops wearing black paratrooper uniforms is tooled-up to the nines.
The fertility rate is non existent so the youngest person is in their 20s. There's sky rocketing autism and government bombs going off everywhere in false flag scenarios to keep the sheep in a constant state of fear.
Ultimately, the story's characters don't mesh together as smoothly as they should. The thin mother of an obese family including an obnoxious son who subsequently has a heart attack, thus pulling the family together, in a way that is mawkish and doesn't feel coherent.
Individually they all knock out great performances, but the star is Sally Hawkins who easily has that screen-presence that fizzes and crackles. Her latest news article elaborates on her preference for privacy and perhaps that's why I've never come across her before but I'll be looking into her body of work for more gems.
Many describe Mike Leigh's work as bitter sweet, though for my taste it's about quintessentially working class English characters who live somewhat sour lives, punctuated by moments of respite described as sweet.
It's still great work. Update: I have come across Sally Hawkins in Blue Jasmine
The Original Wicker Man from 1973 is brimming with the sort of occult and pagan symbolism that many today are much more familiar with. I wonder if the six sided star head chopping reference seen above was used in the 2006 remake?
I notice Jay Dyer has done a review of Radioheads 'Burn The Witch' which is pregnant with Wicker Man symbolism. This is ironic given their recent concert in Tel Aviv where they ignored Apartheid Israel's genocidal segregation of the occupied Palestinians.
