Joseph (Peter Mullan) just killed his dog. It wasn’t on purpose. He was upset dealing with issues surrounding his own violent temperament, the recent death of his wife and the fact someone close to him is lying in the hospital on the verge of death. He didn’t mean to kick the animal, didn’t mean to slam him quite as hard as he did, and as the mutt lay there gazing into his eyes wondering what he’d done wrong Joseph comes to the startling realization just what it is he’s done.

Peter Mullan in Tyrannosaur © Strand Releasing

He and local shopkeeper Hannah (Olivia Colman) should never have crossed paths. They walk in different worlds have little in common, the devout woman about as far removed from the unemployed consistently drunk working class everyman as they come. But she has her own problems, her own issues that have irreparably damaged her on an innate emotional level. Together they begin to repair some of the fractured portions of their respective psyches, achieving a connection far deeper than friendship and, while not quite romantic, could very well be construed as something akin to love.

Made in the working class British vein of Ken Loach, Mike Leigh or of his star Peter Mullan, Paddy Considine’s feature length directorial debut Tyrannosaur is a hard-hitting character-driven tragedy of forgiveness and friendship that packs a pretty mean punch. While nothing that happens is particularly surprising, while the road it takes hasn’t exactly been traveled many times before, Considine does a magnificent job of bringing his two main characters to life in a way that resonates deeply. This is a strong, powerfully forceful melodrama, filled with moments and scenes that slapped me across the face forcing me to take attention of them.

What’s best here is how the director does such a great job of making his characters likeable and authentic, taking their travails and less likable traits and making them speak with a universal truth that’s positively undeniable. Who these people are, where they came from, all of it plays an important part yet none of it stops them from feeling like a next door neighbor or the woman who smiles at you in church on Sunday. They are flesh and blood, each hiding secrets and both trying to change, looking to become better people even when those around them refuse to believe it possible or forcefully go out of their way to hold them back and keep them in their perceived place.

Yet this is all pretty familiar, and I can’t say I was ever all that shocked or surprised by where things went or how the story ultimately turned out. Even a third act surprise involving Hannah’s abusive husband James (Eddie Marsan) didn’t come as all that big a revelation, and while Considine does a great job of playing things close to the vest and trying to keep the mystery vague I still think his use of foreshadowing leaves something to be desired.

At the same time, he’s cast his film brilliantly. Mullan, no stranger to this sort of subject matter as either an actor or as a director himself, digs into Joseph bringing him to life with a pulled apart, shoved-down, beaten up majesty that’s at times astonishing. The way he looks at Hannah, how he reacts to the death of his own dog and a latter beating of a second animal late in the film, the way he finds a tenderness within he maybe didn’t know was even there, all of it becomes something bordering on magic as picture progresses. He’s astonishing, and in the end it’s impossible to believe the finished feature would be near as worthwhile as it is without him.

But Mullan is nothing when compared to Colman. It seems like each and every year there is a British actress who delivers an eviscerating or multilayered or delicately intimate performance who is unjustly forgotten by awards season and Oscar voters everywhere, someone who lays it on the line with only handful taking any sort of notice. Lesley Manville in Another Year comes to mind, so does Vanessa Redgrave in Atonement, Emily Blunt in The Young Victoria, Rosamund Pike in An Education and Sally Hawkins in Made in Dagenham.

Colman is this year’s designee to be added to that list. Her work as Hannah is something special indeed, moving to places and going to emotional plateaus that are varied and complex. Her reactions, they way she both opens herself up to Joseph only to close herself off to him seconds later, all of it is amazing. Colman’s performance is without question one of the very best of the entire year, and to call it anything less than that would be both a huge disservice to the film and even greater one to the actress herself.

Honestly I can’t say Tyrannosaur wowed me near as much as I hoped it would, but the performances certainly did, that goes without saying. More so, as familiar as a lot of this Considine does a great job of making it feel fresh and original even if little of it actually is, giving his finished film a lived-in quality that’s undeniable. As hard as it will be to find, this is an independent winner worth seeking out; here’s hoping the majority of you taking the time to read this do just that.

Film Rating: êêê (out of 4)

Additional Links

• Tyrannosaur Theatrical Trailer