In Celebration

The great Lindsay Anderson adapts another play for film.

Quite interesting, well acted (a then quite young Alan Bates, Brian Cox, Bill Owen among others) study of dysfunctional working class English family where the three sons have become educated and moved up in the world, but are still stuck in the wounds of their childhood.

The production still feels very stagy, and some of the writing is too theatrical for film, but much of the play is moving and nicely complex; finding ways to combine the personal and the political.

It does feel a bit dated -- from a time when breaking away from living the life your parents expected was still a more radical idea.

This film reminds me of the Monty Python sketch featuring old Yorkshireman trying to complete as to who had the worst childhood. This film consists of the brothers of the family bickering with each other and their parents. Yawn.

A very slow and extremely tedious film about a Yorkshire family reuniting up north to celebrate their parents anniversary.

Unfortunately, it's not filmed in Yorkshire, and there's not a real Yorkshire accent to be heard anywhere! Even old 'Compo' couldn't convince anyone he was a Yorkshireman... maybe because he was actually a southerner!

Strangely the classic film "Brassed Off" is a better portrayal of Yorkshire folk in an old mining village, and one of the stars was Scottish!

There are brief moments of good acting from the all star cast, but they are few and far between in this bore of a movie.

The acting here is quite competent, and it is interesting to watch one of Lindsay Anderson's lesser known films, however adapted from a theatre play, it does not disguise its roots very well, and it is quite talkative with little real action. Action is not necessary for all types of film, but in this case having the characters sitting or standing about while talking is not enough for the material to have spice. It is about emotional confrontations, and sure enough, the performers deliver well in some intense scenes. But as a film and not a theatre production, it only ever feels half-baked, and it certainly does not showcase Anderson's directing skills, which proved to be great in his trilogy with Malcolm McDowell.

'In Celebration' is not my favourite of the plays adapted on film for the American Film Theatre series. Do prefer the ones with more complex characterisation and the ones with more of an emotional core, such as 'The Iceman Cometh' and 'Three Sisters'. As a play, 'In Celebration' is still very good and very interesting. It is hard to resist such great actors, such as Alan Bates, James Bolam and Brian Cox, and a fine director in Lindsay Anderson.

As far as the American Film Theatre films go, 'In Celebration' is not one of the best. It's not 'The Iceman Cometh', 'The Homecoming' and 'Butley'. It is still in the better half in a film series where most were in the middling category, and something of a relief after being very underwhelmed by 'Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris' shortly beforehand. It's not perfect, but it is still incredibly well acted (a common strength in the series) and intelligently staged.

Shall get the not so good things out of the way. Nothing is done terribly but some things work better than others. Like most other films in the American Film Theatre series, the stage origins are obvious and not a lot is done opening the action up in such an intimate setting and while much of the stage direction is very intelligent with the character dynamics it's a little on the safe side.

The ending, and this is true of the play itself actually, is abrupt and it also feels incomplete. It at times drags in the talkier sections and the suspense could have been more.

Like pretty much all the American Film Theatre films, the best component of 'In Celebration' is the acting. Bates' hard hitting performance is justifiably lauded, but Bolam and particularly Cox are also splendid and should not be overlooked. Anderson directs with a lot of intelligence and stays loyal to the spirit and details of the play beautifully on the whole. The film is nicely shot and the intimate setting doesn't always come over as over-confined.

Furthermore, the drama is more often than not very harrowing and moving, especially when the already richly drawn characters are more troubled. The script is wry and thoughtful and captures beautifully and the characters' complexities (namely the most troubled Steven). Christopher Gunning's score is unobtrusive and subtle enough, allowing the atmosphere created by the performances to speak.

Overall, not perfect but there is a lot to be impressed by and celebrate. 7/10.