I caught this at the opening gala performance of the Southend Film Festival and as exciting as it was sitting amongst the cast and crew - including Ray Winstone himself - it couldn't detract from the fact that Fathers of Girls is a difficult watch. I don't just mean in terms of its bleak subject matter (drug abuse), but because its plods along at such a pedestrian pace without anything too dramatic ever happening.
The film was something of a family affair what with Winstone and Halmans's daughters both starring and lifelong friend Karl Howman directing (Winstone did it for free), it took only 10 days to shoot, and it shows in the poor direction, uninspired locations of Salisbury, irritating internal monologue from Winstone, which really wasn't needed -it's all about the subtext, we don't need it force fed to us.
I am a fan of social realist movies and having seen BAFTA winning Fish Tank previously, I just found Fathers of Girls really poor in comparison. Winstone and Howman are working on a new project together, let's hope they have more than 10 days to shoot it and a better script to work from.
In closing, Winstone should be applauded for working on this for free and fitting it in between Edge of Darkness with Mel Gibson.
The film was something of a family affair what with Winstone and Halmans's daughters both starring and lifelong friend Karl Howman directing (Winstone did it for free), it took only 10 days to shoot, and it shows in the poor direction, uninspired locations of Salisbury, irritating internal monologue from Winstone, which really wasn't needed -it's all about the subtext, we don't need it force fed to us.
I am a fan of social realist movies and having seen BAFTA winning Fish Tank previously, I just found Fathers of Girls really poor in comparison. Winstone and Howman are working on a new project together, let's hope they have more than 10 days to shoot it and a better script to work from.
In closing, Winstone should be applauded for working on this for free and fitting it in between Edge of Darkness with Mel Gibson.