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VERY ANNIE MARY Send This Review to a Friend
Let's all head for Wales and the charming village of Ogw where Annie Mary, who is very very indeed, is an awkward woman of 31 trying to come into her own despite being scorned by her demanding father no matter how she tries to please him. This fun-filled, offbeat movie boasts a terrific performance by Rachel Griffiths in the title role and this very special actress who is winning a following takes this unusual role and turns it into a triumph. Thanks to Griffiths, it's a character you are likely to remember.
Jonathan Pryce delivers another fine performance as her crotchety, self-centered dad, a widower who owns a bakery and is known for his singing, which he does while making his deliveries, in church and wherever there are ready listeners. Mary once had promise as a singer too and as a teenager won a scholarship to study in Milan, but her mother was ill and her father wouldn't permit her to go.
"Very Annie Mary" is a film difficult to describe, for its many, many pleasures lie in a host of little touches, some funny, some sad, as well as satirical thrusts at village life and its inhabitants. We can laugh at Annie Mary's awkwardness, and the next moment sympathize with her dreams of finding a house of her own. She is close friends with the terminally ill, 16 year-old Bethan Bevan, for whom the village is trying to raise money to send her to Disneyland, as if that's the greatest gift that can be bestowed before eternity. But does Bethan want to go? What she really would like is to hear Annie Mary sing again.
Then there is the matter of sex, which Annie Mary apparently hasn't yet experienced. There's one bloke she likes, and she is willing to pay him to kiss her. Rest assured, we eventually see some action in that department. The film also deals humorously with illness, even something as serious as a stroke. The overall feeling of this fine import, written and directed by Sara Sugerman, is one of authenticity even though some of its characters are caricatured.
The film also has an exuberance that makes one appreciate such an independent venture as opposed to many of films Hollywood generally turns out. "Very Annie Mary" shines with originality and flair. An Empire Pictures release.
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