After the stress of being interviewed for a place at Cambridge in the film Eskimo Day, both Neil and Pippa are relieved when they are offered places depending on their A-level results. However, since meeting at the interviews the pair have begun seeing each other, even if their parents disapprove of the impact the relationship could have on their studies. With the exams over, Neil and Pippa head off on holidays before their new term and their parents' lives change as a result of having an empty nest.
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. Watching it now makes me realize just how badly one-off plays are treated nowadays at best we have one-off cop thrillers with ex-soap stars but mostly the drive for ratings has seen 'ordinary' material been dropped in favour of stuff that can be made to look exciting and grabbing. Watching Rosenthal's work this week has been complimented by me digging out my Talking Heads collection and it has highlighted the lack of this type of stuff on the air but in fairness I suppose the BBC schedules are now too busy with Changing Rooms type shows to fit plays in!
The title of this film comes from a line of dialogue spoken by Lipman in the film Eskimo Day, to which this is a sequel. I really liked Eskimo Day because it was more about the characters than anything else, with the dialogue revealing a great deal yet also blending in with normal conversation. The main, most obvious change here is that this film has much more structure to it and much more of a traditional plot that is spread over many months and not just one day. In a way this works better as it then gives it a stronger narrative but the downside is that the writing loses the strong insight that it had back in Eskimo Day we already know the characters so the focus is not writing of the same style. However, with the characters from the first film, Rosenthal still delivers a good film that wanders at times but has other great moments. The average stuff is some comic stuff early on, subplots with the Lloyds that stutter along and the university stuff that comes in and out. However most of it still manages to engage and it does have some very good moments Bevis' foreign and inexplicable (to him) feeling of emptiness producing some of the strongest bits.
Reflecting this, David Ross dominates the film when he is on screen, although Lipman more than rises to the challenge of their empty nest/empty lives subplot. Wilkinson is not as well used this time and I wasn't totally won over by Carteret's thread even if she played it well. Howard and Sandiford are given more to do this time but their 'in love/out of love' thread is not as good as Rosenthal should have made it. Happily the cast work well (if not as well originally) and the material is still good enough to keep the interest.
Overall it is a different film from Eskimo Day and in a way that is not all a good thing. The writing is much more about narrative than dialogue and it took me a while to settle into this idea. Despite this change, the film still does well enough to work as an one-off drama and, while bits of it are quite ordinary, some of it is great work from Rosenthal. And, if the plot makes too many jumps, I can forgive it because it still serves as a good conclusion to a story I enjoyed from the original film through to the end of this one.
