Despite obviously being a one-scene play adapted for cinema, the film is actually pretty engaging and quite well acted. The script is mostly good and avoids most cinematic cliches - the subject matter is certainly original. The problem with the play/film is that it's not really saying anything very interesting. Its raison d'etre is to win an Oscar with its "incredibly moving story". The final half an hour really knuckles down to get this done - every character cries, the orchestral strings sweep in an almost frenzied attempt to create "a moving scene". But good films - truly moving films - don't do this. The moment that the housekeeper asks to see what the butler is reading in Remains of The Day, the moment that Withnail swigs from a bottle while standing in the rain looking at the wolves in London zoo, the moment that Fredo goes out on the lake in the little rowing boat - these are all truly overwhelmingly moving moments. None of them feature anybody crying, none of them employ ludicrous levels of "sad" strings; instead they rely on the audience's genuine engagement with characters and the story. Of course America lapped up The Whale's subtle-as-a-brick level of cheesy sentiment and gave it the Oscar it had been written to attain. So predictable - but kudos to the writer at least for not using the Holocaust or slavery to do it.
