This Year's Love

Well, I have read other comments less than flattering but my wife and I loved it. I don't care about the coincidences and any small contrivances, the characters were so well portrayed that by the end I knew them all personally and could relate them to people in my past. Don't get picky, do you want more of this or more 'You've got Mail'? I know what I prefer.

found this film by mistake and wasn't expecting much, but was pleasantly surprised, a real gem of a movie. Cathy Burke singing was a surprise and she wasn't that bad, The characters were realistic and I know the area well so can attest to this, happy endings were not mandatory in this film which makes it more poignant. Could imagine another film with these characters being made five years down the line and still holding our interest. Dougray Scott was surprisingly attractive even with greasy hair, he showed a good understanding of the character. All in all the actors in this film showed why British film-making is up there with the best.

I first watched this movie in 1999 when I was 20. 10 years later it hasn't lost any of its relevance and stark reality that makes it one of the most enjoyable yet sadly poignant movies I have seen.

This Year's Love never intended to be the RomCom its unfairly been categorised into. It is a take on modern life, modern love, the loneliness of living in London, the breakdown of relationships and the forming of new ones. It is not supposed to represent debauchery, instead seeking to demonstrate the trials and tribulations so many of us experience in our quest for happiness, acceptance and of course love. Don't we all crave love yet loathe it in equal measures?? I identify with this movie in too many ways to disclose on IMDb; I just believe this movie should be granted more credit and accolade than it has.

I hope those who were enticed by the rather crass UK television promotion of This Years Love weren't disappointed by what was actually quite a well structured romp through a north London location as yet theatrically free of cliched gangsters or bright red buses. I was particularly impressed by the nerve of suggesting that somewhere outside Alba should be inhabited by more than one Scot! Come on! They're everywhere. In hoards! Those not in the know may also have been taken in by the "fat bird" lines of Dame Kathy Burke. Don't be fooled. Look out for her canonisation before the end of the year.

Here's another fine British film, and I have to say it again, the film industry of this island is working fine! And this is exactly the sort of films European cinema in general does better than Hollywood, light comedies about ordinary people, realistic stories about realistic characters without the pretentious tears of the American melodramas. The story spreads over to years focusing on the love affairs of 3 women, Hannah (Catherine McCormack, the beautiful wife of Gibson in Braveheart (1995)), Mary (Kathy Burke, superb in Oldman's Nil by Mouth (1997), also in Elizabeth (1998)) and Sophie (the also beautiful Jennifer Ehle, seen in Wilde (1997)), and 3 men, Danny (Douglas Henshall), Cameron (Dougray Scott) and "I don't remember", who exchange lovers between them and are all linked in this strange way. The story seems to be triggered by the wedding in the starting sequence, but to me it is only the vehicle of introducing the characters. The setting is the Camden Town area of London and the time is today, so we get a glimpse of reality in the English capital. I have to reveal that the humouristic tour de force is the lager shower of Cameron in the pub. For all the sincere and unpretentious cinema a loving 6 out of 10.