Tyrannosaur is the first time that cult Midlands actor Paddy Considine has got behind the camera rather than been in front of it. He's not an actor with a huge profile, but he achieved cult status in my mind when in stared in 'Dead Man's Shoes' as an ex-squaddie who returns to his home town and immediately starts terrorising the local thugs who have been intimidating his brother - a film that he also wrote. He wrote and directed Tyrannosaur, a film that opens with a scene in which a man gets thrown out of a pub and then kicks his dog to death. Immediately it's clear we're not in a happy world.
This man is Joseph - played by Peter Mullan and shown in the image above - and the film tells the story of a couple of weeks in his life when all the pressure that have building inside him since the death of his wife finally spill over. He fights a verbal and then increasingly physical battle with his semi-psychotic neighbour and his attack dog, doing everything in his power to wind him up. He starts a brawl with local kids in a bar and screams at the heavens when no-one's listening. In an act of desperation he runs into a local charity shop run by Hannah (Olivia Coleman) to hide and find solace. Hannah has her own problems, her husband (the always-superb Eddie Marsan) has a twisted love-hate view of her, and the two find solace in each others company.
It's certainly haunting and I'm sure people in the right frame of mind will tell you it's also a brave depiction of depression and social decay. Just look at the screen cap of the film above - talk about depression. It's also a little bit about killing dogs. I just wasn't in the mood the other night, so I wont be recommending it.
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