TV Obsessive
Local Hero
Hal: Few films manage to so acutely articulate a single era, and yet feel so timeless, as Local Hero. It’s firmly in the tradition of the finest Ealing comedies but has a flavor and temperature entirely its own. In the ’80s, it seemed to be hearkening back to a lost generational space; today, one feels that loss all the more keenly. Its distinctive character, almost expressible as tact, is that it manages to imply a greater significance to every interaction, than what we are actually shown. It recoils from crossing a boundary with any of its characters, all of whom are treated with such dignity, warmth, and respect.
The film follows Mac (Peter Riegert), a Texan oil company rep, sent by his boss Happer (Burt Lancaster) to covertly negotiate the purchase of a Scottish coastal village from the locals. Narrative convention would usually dictate that the villagers would resist the outsider, however, with one exception—the sage-like local hermit Ben (the fantastic Fulton Mackay)—they welcome the financial gain he represents all too keenly, with the conflict instead something all the more sublime and ephemeral, as Mac begins to fall in love with the town and its canny residents.
It’s hard to think of a film with more wholly positive and unproblematic energy. It subverts your expectations by refusing to box characters into their set roles, holding them each in deep affection, but without fully buying into any of them. It paints a tender and nuanced picture of each character, all of whom seem to arrive fully formed from a movie that was entirely about them. The characterisation is so utterly spot on, from Riegert’s gentle, straight-laced businessman, to Lancaster’s eccentric, passionate and paternal industrialist. I love Denis Lawson’s performance as the wily, dryly amused local lawyer Gordon, who immediately takes charge of the situation but is so comfortable in his situation that he accepts whatever comes his way with magnanimous charm. There’s even a thoroughly winning comic relief in the form of a very young, very against type Peter Capaldi as Danny, Mac’s lovesick puppy of an assistant, who’s smitten with the enchanting marine researcher Marina, who may or who may not be a literal mermaid (Jenny Seagrove). The dialogue between these characters is beautifully written and fantastically articulate, and it’s a wonderful, heartwarming story with the perfect edge of darkness.
Mark Knopfler’s fantastic score is integral to the balancing act the film pulls off, generating an atmosphere of worldly wit with an idealistic and tender sense of wonder. Mixing jazz, country, traditional folk, and modern synth instrumentation to create an eclectic and joyous mixture of the concrete past, the transient present, and a hopeful, optimistic but realistic vision of the future.
I must admit though, there is something just holding this film back from that final half a star. Despite being in so many ways the complete package, there’s just something holding it back from quite equaling the sum of its parts. There is a smallness to the film, but that’s certainly central to its charm. It doesn’t lack for ambition in any way and I can’t fault the direction by Bill Forsyth, which is note-perfect throughout. Maybe it’s just a couple of the side characters that don’t quite do it for me: the Russian fisherman (Christopher Rozycki) and Happer’s strange experimental therapist (John Jackson). The latter is funny, I’m just not entirely sure what they’re going for with him. He adds a touch of absurdism that I’m not entirely sure the film needed.
Nonetheless, with its warmth, bold but nuanced character writing, and astutely subtle hints of environmentalism and magic realism, Local Hero is as close to a live-action Hayao Miyazaki film as we’re ever likely to get.
Those are our recommendations this week! What are yours? Let us know in the comments!
