Everyday (2012) Reviews

• Surprisingly soft focus

  paul2001sw-12012-11-17

  Michael Winterbottom has made many fine movies humanising the routinely despised - asylum seekers, alleged terrorists, and so on - but with 'Everyday', his portrait of a man with a long term prison sentence, he might possibly have done better to cast a harsher light on his protagonists. John Simm's gentle character hardly seems like a major criminal; and the struggle of his wife to raise their family alone is softened by its setting in the beautiful (and beautifully lit) English countryside. The drama centres on visits, rather than the routine of prison life, and uses a fair amount of soft-focus music . It's a sensitive but surprisingly unacerbic portrait of the consequences of being sent down; in places its moving, but its also clearly non-political - don't look here for an analysis of "broken Britain".

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• A quietly impressive film

  roger-pettit12012-10-17

  It's not very often that I enjoy a film in which very little actually happens! But "Everyday" is an exception. I saw it recently when it premiered at the BFI London Film Festival. It's a thoughtful, understated film with excellent performances. It held my interest right up until the end. And I enjoyed it very much. Filmed over 5 years, "Everyday" is a worthy but never dull film about how a mother and her four young children cope while her husband and their father serves a term of imprisonment. Karen (Shirley Henderson) spends the time accompanying her children to and from school, trying to keep the family's home-life on a reasonably even keel and visiting her husband Ian (John Simm) with the children. At the same time, she is trying to hold down her job as a barmaid at the local pub. She is also having an affair with one of her customers. "Everyday" examines the impact of Ian's absence on his wife and children. It does so in a naturalistic and unassuming way. There are no histrionics or very dramatic scenes. What we get are quietly effective vignettes that show how disruptive a husband and father's extended absence from home can be, particularly on young children. The acting is first rate. Henderson and Simm are very good indeed, as are all four youngsters who play the couple's children. The direction and the camera-work are also very effective. "Everyday" is a visually confident and a very impressive film. 8/10.

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• quiet tension

  p.newhouse@talk21.com2012-11-18

  The film appears to have been shot in Lincolnshire and Norfolk, much in the Stamford area, and focuses on one family over five years, as they wait for the father to be released from prison. This is not one of those depressing 'true life' stories, but is a non-judgemental documentary style piece about a family living with an edge of expectation of what's round the corner, with real life pending for the moment. The film benefits from being shot over five years, as there are no changes of actors as the children age. John Simm and Shirley Henderson are completely believable ordinary parents, and the natural performances of the children, who are real-life siblings, help create the documentary feel.

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• A moving account of a "real" family

  Pi_2012-10-16

  I saw this movie at the Channel 4 building last night, I went with high hopes as I'm a fan of Michael Winterbottom's other work, but I wasn't really sure what to expect as all of his movies are quite different. This movie focuses on a young family who are dealing with the fact that their father is doing a five year stretch in jail. We see these children grow up over the whole movie as it was shot over 5 years which just adds to the realism. The acting is outstanding, very natural, in fact it's hard to believe they aren't a real family. It shows the struggles that the children face not having their father in their lives and how they adapt to that. We see the father in jail who doesn't really take on board how difficult it is for this family to travel to see him, he has his visits and wants every single minute with his family, but as the viewer we have a better understanding of what it really takes to see him. The mother just gets on with, she's incredibly strong but my heart went out to her when I thought of myself being in that same position. I was hooked until the last minute, laughing then crying, then laughing again. This is no glamorisation of prison, it's just the real mundane, human stuff and I found that extremely refreshing.

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• "Dad's home."

  ReadingFilm2019-03-30

  The film constantly relays that feeling of the father coming home. I wonder if Winterbottom loved his and this was a giant homage to him. That sweetness and harmlessness is the director's touch, creating a contrast with his more edgy scenarios. I'm sucker for these 'big family in non-ideal circumstances' pictures, and the casting and performances sing. Fond of the digital video cinematography. But the father did not deserve them for what he put them through; guilting the wife for swaying, he had some nerve.

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