Tyrannosaur
Written and Directed
By: Paddy Considine
Starring: Peter Mullan,
Olivia Colman, and Eddie Marsan
Director of Photography: Erik Wilson, Editor: Pia Di Ciaula,
Production Designer: Simon Rogers, Original Music: Dan Baker and Chris Baldwin
Rated: Unrated,
but brutal violence and explicatives throughout.
Bad
things are all around the world of Paddy Considine’s Trannosaur, which begins with a dog being kicked to death and ends
in bloody violence. The gray skies pepper this grisly drama that is more of a
punch to the gut as it observes the lives of two people living in a brutal
world. Mr. Considne, a great actor known for roles in In America and The Bourne
Ultimatum, brings the same aesthetic to his writing and directing as his
acting: everything is raw and unfiltered, as he explores a story of faith.
The
film begins with Joseph (Peter Mullan), slowly banging a bat against his head,
as if trying to smash the demons of his past back into his head. Joseph lives
alone in a small English town (as someone mostly unfamiliar with the country,
it’s very difficult to say if it’s a particular region) where he mostly drinks,
swears, and beats people to a bloody pulp. His only friend is a young kid who
lives across the street with an unsympathetic mother and a dangerous boyfriend.
After one particularly nasty day, Joseph runs into a donation store where a
middle-aged Christian woman named Hannah works.
