Nothing beats the triumphant emotional rush of a well-crafted underdog story.
Except, perhaps, an under-horse story.
Particularly one based quite closely on actual events.
 |
| You just can't beat the excitement of birth, as Jan (Toni Collette) and Brian (Owen Teale) discover, when their new foal enters the world. |
That many of Lyn’s actors are portraying real people, is the icing on the cake.
The time is just before the turn of the 21st century, the setting the depressed hamlet of Cefn Fforest in South Wales, fallen on hard times since the closure of its nearby mines. The indefatigable Jan Vokes (Toni Collette) rises at dawn every morning, in order to wash the floors and then work register at a local mega-market; in the evenings, she tends bar at a workingmen’s club.
In between, somehow, she looks after her elderly parents and her arthritic husband, Brian (Owen Teale). In her free time (!), as a lifelong animal lover, she raises rabbits, whippets, ducks and even prize-winning pigeons.
One evening, she chances to hear a conversation led by club patron Howard Davies (Damian Lewis), while he waxes eloquent about the trials and tribulations — and expense — of raising race horses. Captivated by the notion, despite its complete impracticality, Jan immerses herself in horse lore and pumps Howard for additional information.
Fully aware that she’d never be able to buy a racing thoroughbred, Jan opts for the alternative of creating one, by purchasing an undistinguished mare for £300 and installing it in a makeshift stable in her garden. But breeding and then training a racehorse will require much, much more money.
Her solution: to enlist the financial support of local townsfolk, via a co-ownership syndicate. On the appointed evening — having mounted and distributed flyers throughout the community — Jan, Brian and Howard nervously wait for somebody to arrive.
They ultimately wind up with a motley collection of 23 villagers, each of whom agrees to contribute £10 per week, in service of this wild scheme. Several of these individuals are unemployed and on the dole; others barely make ends meet in their own small businesses. But all are inspired by Jan’s passion, and by the tantalizing notion — however unlikely — of raising and then racing a champion horse.
We don’t get to know all of the syndicate members, although several stand out: Nerys (Di Botcher), the feisty owner of a local butcher shop; the elderly and always impeccably dressed Maureen (Siân Phillips), lover of fancy hats; the officious Maldwyn (Anthony O’Donnell), who shows up “fully briefed and ready to assess the viability of this venture”; the young and eager Goose (Darren Evans); and the cash-strapped local souse, Kerby (Karl Johnson).
Their collective enthusiasm notwithstanding, Howard warns everybody that they must not participate with the expectation of making money, as there’s a less than one percent chance that their horse — not even born yet! — will ever win a race. Instead, they must “do it for the hwyl” (roughly pronounced hoyl, and referring to “a stirring feeling of emotional motivation and energy”).
Really, could any movie premise be more captivating?
Lyn’s tone is larkish throughout this first act, as every detail allows one or more of the scene-stealing cast members to shine. The foal arrives soon enough: a truly lovely animal, ultimately named Dream Alliance. Once it’s old enough to run, Jan — aiming for the stars, as always — obtains an appointment with well-regarded trainer Philip Hobbs (Nicholas Farrell).
Hobbs couldn’t be less interested, particularly since Dream Alliance shows no desire to circle the track.
Until, quite suddenly, he does.
(Honestly, telling any more would spoil the joy of discovery.)
The delightfully quirky syndicate members notwithstanding, Collette’s portrayal of Jan is decisively serious. Collette is too often overlooked, when compiling lists of outstanding actresses; she has an impressive talent for delivering delicately nuanced performances. Consider Jan’s weary, beaten expression, as she silently rides the supermarket floor scrubber; contrast that with the woman’s sheer bliss, at the foal’s arrival.
We understand, thanks to Collette’s shading, that this isn’t merely a horse. Dream becomes Jan’s friend, confidant and — most important — refuge from the rigors of her daily life.
“I need something to look forward to, when I get up in the morning,” Jan explains to her husband, in one of the many deeply touching scenes Collette shares with Teale. “To remind me that things can … change.”
It’s initially tempting to dismiss Brian as just another eccentric, with his ample missing teeth and the letters L-O-V-E tattooed on the knuckles of one hand. But Teale’s performance is equally layered: a man quietly guilty over being “useless” because of his physical limitations — a feeling Jan ferociously disputes — who, somewhat to his surprise, regains his spirit while sharing in this mad adventure.
Lewis, well remembered from Band of Brothers and television’s Homeland, deftly handles the sole character with a bit of genuine melodrama. Howard hasn’t shared his involvement in this syndicate with his wife, Angela (Joanna Page), because — after nearly losing their home and savings during a previous venture — he promised that he’d never again get involved with a race horse.
Peter Davison, beloved for everything from All Creatures Great and Small to Doctor Who and Law & Order UK, pops up briefly as snobbish racehorse owner Lord Avery, who takes a dim view of this gaggle of amateurs invading “his turf.”
Cinematographer Erik Wilson, editor Jamie Pearson and first assistant director Peter Bennett make every racing sequence its own unique little story, with distinctive tics and hiccups; each one is an even more suspenseful edge-of-the-seat experience.
Benjamin Woodgates’ frothy orchestral score frequently yields to a boisterous collection of pop and rock tunes by Welsh bands such as Super Furry Animals, Manic Street Preachers, Catatonia and Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci. The stand-out song, however, was made famous half a century ago by another Welshman: “Delilah” (a tune now so popular, that Welsh people sing it at every possible social occasion).
Lyn builds his film to a rousing climax that’ll have folks cheering in the aisles, then follows that with a jubilant, end credits sing-along straight out of a Bollywood musical; it blends cast actors with the actual Jan Vokes and several of her syndicate members.
And, just in passing, you’ll have an equally grand time with Dark Horse, the 2015 BAFTA and Sundance-winning documentary that profiled Jan and Dream Alliance, and inspired this film.
No comments:
Post a Comment