It is the day of interviews for admissions to Queens College Cambridge and several groups of parents and their children set out for Cambridge on coach, car and train. Meanwhile a former student sets out for a job interview at a local café and a Cambridge professor takes his reluctant father to see an old folks' home. As they interact, go through the interviews and wait for each other outside, we learn a lot about them from their conversations.
In the past few weeks I have been fortunate enough to be able to watch several of the work of writer Jack Rosenthal, the only downside of this chance was that it only came about due to his death earlier this year from cancer. I was aware Rosenthal had been a writer on Coronation Street back when it started but other than that I didn't know a great and never really watched any of his stuff at the time of release. I came to this film with an open mind and I was happy enough when it started out as a sort of comedy drama about several groups of people and interviews. In some regards the film keeps in this mood with plenty of dialogue that is amusing in a 'Talking Heads' sort of fashion but then, like that wonderful collection of films, the writing here allows us to get into the characters despite only having met them for an hour or more. The dialogue is comic and natural and you never doubt for a moment that these are real people. Kudos to Rosenthal for writing realistic dialogue for a range of very different characters and situations.
The direction is also very good, matching the tone of the film and being content to observe just as we do. Of course it needed a great cast to be able to understand and deliver the characters and it is lucky enough to have them. Lipman is as good as always in this type of fare even if her character is a bit of a comic one. Wilkinson and Carteret are a good combination and their marriage and personalities are wonderfully delivered through their performances and dialogue. Ross is good and Guinness is also excellent moving even if his thread doesn't totally fit in with the rest of the film.
Overall the film is excellent and it is almost totally down to the great writing from Rosenthal. His characters and his dialogue are very real and natural and they are so well drawn that we can see their whole lives in just over an hour. The cast rise to the material and there are no weak links even if one or two of the minor plot threads could easily have been lost. Just like the wonderful Talking Heads insightful, witty and clever writing makes for great characters and an interesting story that the cast all rise to deliver.
