Alex_Hodgkinson

What could have been a very typical, by the numbers film intending to simply play with it's audience's heartstrings, is actually a surprisingly heartfelt look into a small suburban family's life. I went into this expecting the full focus to be on the young boy and his struggles, but instead the film decides to explore the minds of several different distinct characters and manages to get you to care for and understand every one of them.

The description of the film leads you to believe that the subject matter would be heavy viewing, but they take a surprisingly light approach and you just end up enjoying a well made coming of age film that focuses on a boy who suffers from the struggles of a facial deformity as well as the friends and family that support him.

The film's choice to follow different characters throughout the narrative is what ended up hooking me. Many films like this tend to stretch the plot thin, not knowing what to do with their run times, but this one fits so comfortably into it's run time without feeling like it's overstaying or understaying it's welcome, and does so through exploring each character so elegantly.

If given an opportunity to improve the film, I would only ask that they actually went just a little bit further with the brutality and hardships of school life, but I can see why that would be rather difficult given the tone of the film as a whole.

We haven't had anything amazing since series two. I've felt no emotion from the series and it's just felt like Bond. The Reichenbach Fall and A Scandal in Belgravia were some of the best TV I've ever watched, with Reichenbach being my favourite TV episode of all time. Four of the six series one and two episodes were just phenomenal, and since then we've had just 'good'.This changed that. I loved it. Felt like a psychological thriller and was exciting from start to finish. Easily my second or third favourite episode. Just wow, I was blown away. I mean, sure, it didn't wrap everything up as promised, but as it's own episode it was just excellent and I'm glad we didn't end on a disappointing note like the last six episodes. Felt really back to basics, with nothing over the top and flashy.

It's a psychological thriller, so I guess I'm pretty biased as that it's my favourite genre, but I'm happy it all ended on a positive note. The emotion in this episode was on top form, with amazing acting and writing. This was no Reichenbach Fall, but it was definitely up there as a true TV experience.