+++ MINOR SPOILERS BELOW +++
Not quite a 7/10, but close enough. Points are for cinematography and acting. Story was not bad, could have been better.
************* This was a visually interesting movie for me. The cinematography gave a very good sense of Johnny Saxby's Yorkshire farm: vast, isolating, often cold (it looked to me like the actors must have been freezing in some of those scenes), and generally intimidating to a family that does not have the resources to take care of the endless chores that must be carried out in order for such a farm to succeed.
For me, the acting was fine. However, the lack of subtitles on the DVD was a problem. I'm American, and I simply could not understand some of the dialogue in the film, due to the heavy accents of some of the actors. Granted, there's not a lot of dialogue to begin with, but it's clear that there were a couple of sentences here and there that seemed to be germane to the story line, yet I could not make them out, even after rewinding and listening again.
I thought the film was way too slow in parts. I get that there's a certain allure to keeping in all that film footage of the harsh, desolate "personality" of the Yorkshire countryside. But some of that, IMHO, needed to be edited down to keep the film moving. Also, I was not a fan of the scenes dealing with lamb deaths and birthings. I think that those, too, could have been shortened up a bit while still getting across the idea of the hard and sometimes emotionally exhausting life of a sheep farmer.
Now, onto my main problem with this film. For the life of me, I could not understand why Gheorghe (the itinerant farm hand who comes to help Johnny during lambing season) was attracted to Johnny. I can see why Johnny was attracted to handsome, warm, capable, and caring Gheorghe. But gawky looking Johnny, with his sullen and resentful attitude, showed me nothing that explained why Gheorghe would be interested in him.
I think this was a big failing on the part of the film. We needed a little more dialogue (not that I would probably have understood it :-) ), something that Gheorghe reveals to us that helps us understand his attraction to, or affinity with, Johnny. It would not have been that hard to do. Instead, we never learn much about Gheorghe, which hurt the relationship's credibility for me.
In that same vein, instead of a brief post-coital bedroom scene where all we see is Johnny asking Gheorghe how to say certain English words in Romanian--really, Director/Producer/Editor, this was important to show us??--maybe that scene should have shown Johnny articulating his hopes and dreams and conflicting feelings. Or maybe the two of them sharing thoughts, revealing things, that show us why they fit together as a couple. You know--something of substance.
I am also skeptical that two men would feel comfortable kissing passionately in full view of any co-workers who might happen to walk by. (This occurs late in the film.) But hey, maybe Scottish attitudes are more laid back about that kind of thing?
Finally, I'm kind of confused about how the men will make a go of the farm, down the road. Gheorghe says he's been through this before (the loss of his own family farm) and can't do it again. Did he and Johnny actually discuss what could be done (beyond making sheep's-milk cheese) to truly make the farm a viable, going concern? I don't think so. It would have been nice to understand that they had an actual plan, going forward.
Not quite a 7/10, but close enough. Points are for cinematography and acting. Story was not bad, could have been better.
************* This was a visually interesting movie for me. The cinematography gave a very good sense of Johnny Saxby's Yorkshire farm: vast, isolating, often cold (it looked to me like the actors must have been freezing in some of those scenes), and generally intimidating to a family that does not have the resources to take care of the endless chores that must be carried out in order for such a farm to succeed.
For me, the acting was fine. However, the lack of subtitles on the DVD was a problem. I'm American, and I simply could not understand some of the dialogue in the film, due to the heavy accents of some of the actors. Granted, there's not a lot of dialogue to begin with, but it's clear that there were a couple of sentences here and there that seemed to be germane to the story line, yet I could not make them out, even after rewinding and listening again.
I thought the film was way too slow in parts. I get that there's a certain allure to keeping in all that film footage of the harsh, desolate "personality" of the Yorkshire countryside. But some of that, IMHO, needed to be edited down to keep the film moving. Also, I was not a fan of the scenes dealing with lamb deaths and birthings. I think that those, too, could have been shortened up a bit while still getting across the idea of the hard and sometimes emotionally exhausting life of a sheep farmer.
Now, onto my main problem with this film. For the life of me, I could not understand why Gheorghe (the itinerant farm hand who comes to help Johnny during lambing season) was attracted to Johnny. I can see why Johnny was attracted to handsome, warm, capable, and caring Gheorghe. But gawky looking Johnny, with his sullen and resentful attitude, showed me nothing that explained why Gheorghe would be interested in him.
I think this was a big failing on the part of the film. We needed a little more dialogue (not that I would probably have understood it :-) ), something that Gheorghe reveals to us that helps us understand his attraction to, or affinity with, Johnny. It would not have been that hard to do. Instead, we never learn much about Gheorghe, which hurt the relationship's credibility for me.
In that same vein, instead of a brief post-coital bedroom scene where all we see is Johnny asking Gheorghe how to say certain English words in Romanian--really, Director/Producer/Editor, this was important to show us??--maybe that scene should have shown Johnny articulating his hopes and dreams and conflicting feelings. Or maybe the two of them sharing thoughts, revealing things, that show us why they fit together as a couple. You know--something of substance.
I am also skeptical that two men would feel comfortable kissing passionately in full view of any co-workers who might happen to walk by. (This occurs late in the film.) But hey, maybe Scottish attitudes are more laid back about that kind of thing?
Finally, I'm kind of confused about how the men will make a go of the farm, down the road. Gheorghe says he's been through this before (the loss of his own family farm) and can't do it again. Did he and Johnny actually discuss what could be done (beyond making sheep's-milk cheese) to truly make the farm a viable, going concern? I don't think so. It would have been nice to understand that they had an actual plan, going forward.