Day 6: Tyrannosaur

During the film I was trying to take notes but the only thing I managed to write down was “This is just killing me.” It was absolutely slaying me. I was painfully sobbing for the majority of the film. It’s just relentless in its attack on your mind and emotions, pulling no punches. I feel exhausted and I can’t stop crying. It’s just fiction, right? Sure, yeah.

The film focuses on the relationship forged between Joseph, a widower (Peter Mullan) with rage issues and Hannah, a charity shop worker (Olivia Colman) who is abused by her husband. Joseph is lost and resorts to violence at the slightest opportunity but sees in Hannah the opportunity for change. That is until he realises that she has a horrific home life (the first we see of it is her husband urinating on her as she pretends to be asleep) and so is not the perfect thing he think will help him. Despite having trouble coping with helping her after being alone for so long he makes her feel safe which must’ve seemed impossible to her not too long ago. However, it is not for long as she is taken away and Joseph is left to deteriorate further. It all culminates when his friend, a local kid, gets attacked by a dog. Joseph “goes native” as he puts it, cuts the dogs head off and sits with it in his lap in front of the owner. After spending time in prison for it he is making a change and appears to be doing better. He visits Hannah and you can see that despite their circumstances they are much better off than they were before.

Throughout the film, Joseph blows up at the slightest provocation but right after it you can see he deeply regrets it. It’s nigh on impossible to escape destructive habits once they're so deeply embedded in your everyday life and you think you’re “not a nice human being.” You’re not a bad person, Joseph. You have done bad things but that doesn’t make you a bad person. I think, right where it matters, you’re a good person. You’re a good person. You are a good person.

10/10