Once Upon a Time in the Midlands
2002
***½
Director: Shane Meadows
Cast: Robert Carlyle, Rhys Ifans, Shirley Henderson, Kathy Burke, Finn Atkins
The Brits excel at making funny, moving and believable films about working class people, and here we have another fine contender. Rhys Ifans plays a nerdy man whose seemingly perfect life falls apart when the father of her partner's teenage daughter comes back to the picture. There are some contrived and melodramatic turns towards the end, but on the whole this slice of Nottingham life leaves a pleasant aftertaste.
