Now that temperatures have fallen here in Canada and I am getting out my coats and scarves and drinking the mandatory 10 cups of tea per day, I thought this film about two friends traipsing across the North of England would be a perfect watch and I was not wrong. Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon play only somewhat fictionalized versions of themselves as they take a food tour of Northern England. Set amongst the poems of Coleridge, Wordsworth and the works of Bronte sisters and beautifully shot The Trip proves that to be funny you have to be sad and to be sad you have to be funny. There are genuine moments of intimacy and friendship, reminiscent of films such as Whitnail and I, between the characters and a particularly poignant discussion of ABBA's The Winner Takes It All. However there are also genuinely hilarious moments, as they impersonate everyone from Liam Neeson to Michael Caine. What makes this, admittedly slow moving film come to life are the epic shots of the English countryside, the isolation of Coogans character as he is dwarfed by the mountains, the hills, the sheer magnitude of nature or alternately shots of him in London where he is similarly isolated, even a a brief scene of his son doesn't have any other people in it. However, it is the contrast of these scenes with the witty banter between the two characters that drives the film from poignant to hilarious and back again over and over again. When one of the final scenes has Coogan and Brydon singing The Winnter Takes it All while driving through traffic, you are left with a sort of sad feeling although it is uncertain who the winner is here. The films ends with Brydon's character happily reunited with his family and Coogan turning down a show offer in the States to be with his children. The English student I am wants to analyze this and see what it's meaning is but I don't think there is any. It's a poignant conclusion to a poignant film, a film I highly recommend.
No comments:
Post a Comment