This weekend a packed audience at the Showroom Cinema in Sheffield was lucky enough to see a preview of Paddy Considine’s directorial debut Tyrannosaur . I say lucky but watching it was something of an ordeal. The film follows two lost souls – Joseph, a dissolute waster, prone to bursts of violence as a symptom of his deep grief; and Hannah, a seemingly privileged do-gooder who takes refuge from her sadistic husband in charity work and alcohol. The territory is familiar, falling under the category of ‘gritty realism’ and made for a mere snip at £750,000 – although at a Q&A after the screening Considine is keen to point out a low budget didn’t dwarf his ambitions, ‘I told the crew we’re not making some little British film that we’re apologising to the world for, we’re making cinema.’
The domestic scale but epic emotional canvas of Tyrannosaur invites comparisons with another searing portrait of life on a council estate, Nil by Mouth and indeed Considine names that film’s director Gary Oldman as a major influence. The two men were working on an acting job together while Tyrannosaur was incubating in Considine’s mind. He gave Oldman the screenplay to read and his only response was, ‘Don’t let them change a f*cking thing.’ Judging by the integrity of the film it’s clear that Considine has followed this advice, staying true to his script, ‘no improvisation’, and displaying assured cinematography, ‘no swinging documentary style.’
Considine’s brutal script and unflinching vision is done full justice by his two lead actors. Peter Mullan is no stranger to these troubled ambivalent characters who can sometimes only connect with the people around them by throwing a punch. It is testimony to his talents as an actor that in the first scene we watch him kick his beloved dog to death and by the end we’re rooting for him. But the real revelation here is Olivia Coleman. We’re used to seeing her in comic roles, as the redoubtable Sophie in Peep Show or the cynical vicar’s wife in Rev. Considine immediately saw something rawer in her though. When they first met he apparently phoned his wife and said, ‘I’ve found her’. It’s a subtle performance in which Coleman’s exquisitely expressive face flickers between victimhood, self-hatred and rage without ever losing hope of redemption.
Considine says he wanted to make ‘a film about human beings in pain’ and it never shies away from putting the audience through the emotional wringer via the unblinking voyeurism of the camera lense. But despite the sickening violence and the urban grimness, Considine describes it as ‘a love story’, and so it is. Joseph and Hannah are broken people who find a way to smooth each other’s edges and, despite the final horrific revelation, recognise each other as soulmates.
Tyrannosaur is released on Friday 7 October and showing at the Showroom Cinema from that date.