I saw this movie for the first time on Australian TV last night and was really impressed by it.
It focuses on the lives of two English working-class best friends, one of whom becomes terminally ill soon after learning she has won big in a lottery. This theme may sound somewhat clichéd, but that's not how it transfers to screen in this movie. The topic of cancer is handled realistically yet respectfully (for example, no graphic scenes of pain or vomiting, etc), and the relationship between the best friends (Jackie and her soon-to-be sick friend, Dawn) is poignant in it's portrayal. Because of the typically down-to-earth British-style acting, you are not left feeling that you've simply fallen for another tear-jerker, rather, that you've actually experienced something that could easily be a tragic, real-life scenario.
It wasn't sappy or melodramatic at all, although having said that, cancer IS dramatic, so even it had been handled this way it wouldn't have been a problem for me. The scene where Dawn says that an angel visited her in a dream and kissed her on the shoulder made me want to cry. She seems just like a vulnerable child here, which is what serious illness does to people.
Many people in today's society take things like international travel for granted. But for many folk out there, particularly the sort of characters portrayed in this movie, such things are only ever imagined. So when Jackie takes her dying friend Dawn to Las Vegas for one last blast, personally, I found it very touching. Dawn's character probably never thought something like this could happen to her (or that she would win big in a lottery in the first place!) so you really feel for her and want her to enjoy herself. This part of the movie also provides a good opportunity for some of the movie's lighter moments, for example, when Jackie and Dawn become like giggling teenage girls again over an attractive hotel porter!
The only thing that was a little depressing for me was the apparent lack of any real relationship between Dawn and her kids. They are portrayed as quite bratty, but as a dying woman I kept expecting Dawn to try and form one last close bond with them, which never seemed to happen. It would have been nice if we could have seen Dawn's kids (and her husband) sharing in her life's revelations as well, not just her best friend/sister-in-law, Jackie.
Overall though, I was really touched by this film. It is humble where it should be humble, dynamic where it should be dynamic. Both the main actresses (Walters and Blethyn) do a superb job and seem to really understand the characters they are portraying. I recommend it to anyone to watch, particularly women.
It focuses on the lives of two English working-class best friends, one of whom becomes terminally ill soon after learning she has won big in a lottery. This theme may sound somewhat clichéd, but that's not how it transfers to screen in this movie. The topic of cancer is handled realistically yet respectfully (for example, no graphic scenes of pain or vomiting, etc), and the relationship between the best friends (Jackie and her soon-to-be sick friend, Dawn) is poignant in it's portrayal. Because of the typically down-to-earth British-style acting, you are not left feeling that you've simply fallen for another tear-jerker, rather, that you've actually experienced something that could easily be a tragic, real-life scenario.
It wasn't sappy or melodramatic at all, although having said that, cancer IS dramatic, so even it had been handled this way it wouldn't have been a problem for me. The scene where Dawn says that an angel visited her in a dream and kissed her on the shoulder made me want to cry. She seems just like a vulnerable child here, which is what serious illness does to people.
Many people in today's society take things like international travel for granted. But for many folk out there, particularly the sort of characters portrayed in this movie, such things are only ever imagined. So when Jackie takes her dying friend Dawn to Las Vegas for one last blast, personally, I found it very touching. Dawn's character probably never thought something like this could happen to her (or that she would win big in a lottery in the first place!) so you really feel for her and want her to enjoy herself. This part of the movie also provides a good opportunity for some of the movie's lighter moments, for example, when Jackie and Dawn become like giggling teenage girls again over an attractive hotel porter!
The only thing that was a little depressing for me was the apparent lack of any real relationship between Dawn and her kids. They are portrayed as quite bratty, but as a dying woman I kept expecting Dawn to try and form one last close bond with them, which never seemed to happen. It would have been nice if we could have seen Dawn's kids (and her husband) sharing in her life's revelations as well, not just her best friend/sister-in-law, Jackie.
Overall though, I was really touched by this film. It is humble where it should be humble, dynamic where it should be dynamic. Both the main actresses (Walters and Blethyn) do a superb job and seem to really understand the characters they are portraying. I recommend it to anyone to watch, particularly women.
