The Arbor

What has prompted me to blog after over a year's absence this time? One of those films that I knew next to nothing about going in, but was completely absorbed by. I've probably mentioned before that I love the Gene Siskel Film Center's European Union Film Festival for the broad selection of European films it offers - ones that may or may not get picked up for regular theatrical runs in the US. I'm so wrapped up in work lately, that I hadn't made it to any screenings since the festival opened a couple weeks ago, and I don't know if I will make it to any more. But, I'm glad I saw this one. View the trailer here.

Clio Barnard's The Arbor transcends any style, weaving together documentary, oral history, writing, cinema and theatre together with some brilliant acting to tell the story of one family and one rough neighborhood in a way that I've never seen before.

Critically acclaimed English playwright Andrea Dunbar died at 29, in a local Pub in Bradford, leaving behind three young children and the community that that was the centerpiece of her short writing career. Barnard's film, built mainly from actors lip-syncing to actual interviews of Dunbars children, family and neighbors, gives a fresh look to what could have been portrayed as just another story about the vicious cycle of poverty.

It seems much longer than its 90 minutes, but even though I was a little skeptical at the beginning, we learned so much about the family in that short time. I thought the acting was phenomenal. It's hard to imagine how one becomes a character to match a recorded voice. It almost makes me think about actors voicing animation, and I wonder if it's a similar process.

Although a lot of the actors are well-known in British TV and film, the only one I recognized was (that dreamy) Jimi Mistry, yet he seemed the most out of place in this movie - looking suave and intelligent, yet playing an abusive, illiterate deadbeat dad.

I don't know if this will get theatrical distribution here, but I won't be surprised if it does. In any case, it's made me want to seek out the actors as well as Andrea Dunbar's work, and wait to see what Clio Barnard will do next.