Very Annie Mary

Very Annie-Mary (M), now showing at The Regent Theatre in Te Awamutu, is not only packed with laughs but takes the audience on a roller coaster ride of human emotions. Inspiring feelings of amusement, hope and joy the film also has moments of utter clarity, deepest despair and complete regret - it's guaranteed to break your heart before restoring your faith in humanity. Thirty-year-old Annie-Mary, played by Six Foot Under star Rachel Griffiths, has never left her Ogw home in the Welsh valleys and is under the thumb of her father. The dizzy girl, who won a prestigious Welsh singing competition in her teens, still dresses as though she were 16, secretly smokes and cannot cook – quite an irony as she works for her father. She secretly dreams of leaving home and setting up with her best friend, the terminally ill Bethan Bevan (Joanna Page), who is half her age, as well as marrying Colin Thomas (Rhys Miles Thomas), a candidate for the Baptist ministry and the only man in the valley under 60. When her music-loving father Jack Pugh (Jonathan Pryce) suffers a stroke during a charity recital Annie-Mary is forced to grow up and take on some responsibility – the only problem is she has no idea about life in the real world, keeping her money in a piggy bank. She's so clumsy that she walks into doors. The film delivers a believable portrayal of life in a Welsh village, something a frequent visitor to Wales like me is qualified to say. Hornblower star Ioan Gruffudd goes back to his Welsh roots to make an appearance as gay confectioner Hob while former Hi-de-hi star Ruth Maddoc plays Pugh's love interest, Mrs Ifans. While the film contains some sex scenes, which are far from graphic, there is also a smattering of offensive language. This aside, Very Annie-Mary is one of those films that sees you leaving the cinema riding on a cloud. The music is just great too.

When you go see this film, please sit back and relax. This is a fable, a story where, yes, eccentric characters are overdramatized, but anyone that's been to Wales will see just that, the people are very funny. Rachel Griffiths is excellent, as is Jonathan Pryce, as her bullying Welsh father. This is not a US blockbuster, but then again, it wasn't supposed to be. The story has heart, and the one scene where Rachel's character (Annie-Mary) goes up in a balloon in a dance hall was very funny. The accents are hard for folks that don't understand any language other than American-English, but when you see a Liverpool film, a Scottish film, do you expect to understand anything other than the loveable laughable characters? View, sit back, relax..and enjoy the experience of "something different".

This is definitely the 2nd best film I've ever seen (Once Upon A Time In The West is my fave). But Cerys Matthews lends her all here. It made me laugh - it made me sigh - it made me cry. But mainly it made me feel so proud to be Welsh!

Don't miss it

Very Annie Mary took me by shock and surprise.

Rachel Griffiths gives her finest performance – and though the film is 3 years old, she hasn't as yet done anything quite as satisfying as her brilliant turn as Annie.

33 year old, Annie comes off as mildly retarded, and, in the truest sense of the word, she is, since life pretty well ended at 15. That's when Annie Mary, who wanted nothing more than to be an opera singer, won a vocal competition judged by Pavarotti who told her she would have a marvelous career, and she's given a grant to study in Milan.

That same week, her mother took ill, died, and Annie was forced to give up her dreams to stay and take her mother's place in the home. Her father accomplishes his means by humiliating Annie into believing she isn't special, she isn't, in fact, anything at all.

As Dad, Pugh, Jonathan Pryce is terrific as. Selfish and cold hearted almost two decades after he's shattered her dreams, the man still berates his daughter calling her talentless, useless, stupid, slovenly and cuts her to her heart laughing at her "what man would ever have you?" He forces her to dress in his own dead mother's shapeless, matronly as he constantly tells Annie how beautiful her mother was.

The film opens with Pryce singing Puccini's Nessun Dorma from a mounted speaker system atop his bakery delivery truck as he drives through the Welsh countryside. As the camera pulls in, we see Pugh "The Voice of the Valley" in a rubber Pavarotti mask and wearing an Pavarotti sized tuxedo. Beautiful and hilarious all at once.

While not slapstick Griffiths' Annie Mary is prone to extreme clumsiness – often moving (especially when running) like an excited 5 year old, all stiff arms and awkwardness. She's adorable. Clumsiness leads to minor accidents, falls down stairs, running into doors and other objects – each moment is hilarious yet does something to endear this ugly duckling even more to us.

When Dad suffers a stroke, Annie Mary is forced to take care of the household – with riotous and disastrous results.

The heart of the film centers around Annie's relationship the village and her best friend, Bethan, a bedridden teenager. The village wish for Bethan is to send her to Disneyland. Bethan's only wish is to hear Annie sing. Through an unlikely series of events(including a talent competition, a bouncing Pavarotti, the Village People and the Welsh Grand National Horserace and the entire village turning against Annie) Bethan – and the village – get to hear Annie Mary find her voice again. It is a magical moment blending pathos, forgiveness, hope, heartbreak and Puccini, as Annie Mary finds not only her voice, but the means to carry on.

Very Annie Mary is easily one of the most joyous DVD discoveries I've made.

p.

I knew the film was going to be funny after watching the trailer, but now that I have seen it I can honestly say it is better than I had expected. Even Jonathan Pryce's dodgey welsh accent can not hinder the enjoyment of this movie. Many laughs, a few tear-jerking moments, but all in all a really worthwile movie.