Ryan McNeil
Ever look back on something and find yourself forgetting the bad things about it? It’s not selective memory exactly, more like a focus on the bright side. It happens often…the way we choose to remember people, stories,…entire experiences really. The dodgy bits fade from consciousness, leaving in its place a tapestry of warm memories.
Every once in a while, that feeling applies itself to a movie.
TAMARA DREWE begins on a writers’ retreat in the English countryside. The farm where writers come to work and be inspired is run by crime novelist Nicholas Hardiment (Roger Allam) and his loving wife Beth (Tamsin Greig). Working with them, is a strapping lad named Andy (Luke Evans) – a farm hand who just so happened to grow up on the estate next door.
That estate has long been owned by the Drewe family, however when the matriarch finally passes away, daughter Tamara (Gemma Arteton) returns to town to settle affairs. Unfortunately for many in the community, she arrives with all the grace and subtlety of a hurricane.
Drewe begins disrupting the natural order of things by enticing and tormenting both Nicholas and Andy. She then makes matters worse by inviting a rock drummer named Ben (Dominic Cooper) to live with her. And unbeknownst to her, she making matters worse by becoming something of a fixation for two teenage girls in town named Jody and Casey.
Before long people are falling in and out of love. People are causing mischief just because they can. And people in a seemingly wholesome community are lying to one another. A lot.
TAMARA DREWE is a spotty film. As an overall narrative it goes down some very predictable paths, and there is at least one character who seems more cartoon than human – and almost entirely unnecessary. It is at times too cutely constructed – I could have done with about seven less wipe cuts to memories of Tamara’s younger days. Speaking of those younger days, the prosthetic nose they outfit Arteton with bordered on ludicrousness.
But strangely, when it’s all over, those problems fade from memory. For starters, we get a wonderful focus on writing and what goes into it. As the film opens, we are treated to a bright mosaic of writers working; their thoughts swirling and flowing like wine on a Saturday night. later we get the cheeky counterpoint, when one writer compares writing to taking a shit. But of course, that moment is fleeting, and the story instead decides to focus on what being in love can do for a writer. It’s a sweet notion, and helps take the emphasis off the film’s shortcomings.
So on the one hand, we have a lot of creative energy with purpose, which then gets put to the test when Tamara and her restless energy storm back into town. Fittingly, when she first drives up, her car is blaring a song that declares “I don’t know what’s right and what’s real anymore / I don’t know how I’m meant to feel anymore”.
Tamara is oblivious in many ways, and wickedly disruptive in not realizing just how oblivious she is. When she was younger, she was just like Jody and Casey. She was perpetually restless, and could only ever counter that by causing mischief – usually at the expense of the men in town. That’s the problem with rural boredom; it’s almost never solved with a crossword puzzle.
So in its sometimes cute, sometimes slight, but always genuine way, TAMARA DREWE begins to play a game of Mouse Trap. As it rolls the dice of class division and personal deceit, it slowly puts piece after piece on to the board. This small town becomes the game board…the characters become the chutes and scaffolding…the corners they’ve backed themselves into become boots and buckets. And right on cue, the film drops the marble and springs the trap.
Once the dust has cleared, and the metaphoric trap has been sprung, it’s hard to stay preoccupied by cardboard characters or their silly decisions. It’s like trying to stay mad at someone when they’re making you laugh. The failings begin to fade, and those touchstones of eloquence and charm remain. Ultimately, the film moves from sloppy to rustic, and becomes more endearing.
TAMARA DREWE is like the girl who teased you mercilessly and ratted you out to your parents…but damned if she isn’t still so darned cute, so there’s no way you wouldn’t stop and catch up.