On a Clear Day (2006)

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Drama / Comedy + inspirational sports done well, you cannot beat it. And On A Clear Day is done very well indeed: a very good tale about redundancy and new hope in Scotland told with a glint in the eye and a spring in the step.It also follows along in Brassed Off and Full Monty's line: it is about how we find dignity (And the only two missed opportunities for me in the film were not to use Wyatt's brilliant Shipbuilding and Deacon Blue's Dignity as soundtrack songs).When Frank (Peter Mullan is typical acerbic form) is made redundant he falls to pieces. His mates are there but nothing is clicking. He sets himself an impossible task: to swim the English Channel - he has his personal reasons (Which give the film a deeper edge).But film isn't just about technique or script or even acting: it's as much about the overall effect and this scores very big in this respect.This is a film with huge heart and it is nearly impossible not to be moved or inspired by it.There may be better films out there, but seriously, there weren't many others from 2005 that we simply loved this much.

An endearing everyman movie with a UK setting. Frank, a traditionalist, would rather leave than kowtow to the new management. After 36 years of work he is at odds what to do with himself. He can't communicate his emotions to his wife, he barely expresses his feelings to his chums, and he struggles with his relationship with his son. Woven through this is the 23 year old tragedy of losing his other son to a drowning, which has haunted him all these years. Frank finds a way to redeem his self-esteem and that is to swim the English Channel. The movie weaves this main plot in with several sub-plots and it all works well. Indie movies are brave enough to portray real characters with plausible dialog. A tremendously capable cast with the talents of Billy Boyd (Pippin) as the comic relief, and Brenda Blethyn (Pride and Prejudice) as the stalwart wife, plus the wide array of minor characters, blend to create a thoroughly enjoyable family movie. Some of the lines with Billy Boyd are laugh out loud hilarious.

I was lucky enough to have a theater play the movie close by my house. So I made a night out of it with one of my best friends. The theater we saw it in was different from anything else because the theater only showed movies that weren't the blockbuster, big-budget types. It was pretty awesome.Here's my review. To begin, the movie was excellent!!!!! I really enjoyed seeing the scenery of Glasgow, Scotland. What a cool-looking country!! The movie centers around a 50-something Scotsman named Frank who just got fired from his job. In an effort to ease his pain, his lovely wife and friends take him on a cruise around the English Channel. When he sees how close they are to France, Frank decides to do unthinkable and impossible; swim the English Channel. With the help of his best friends, he trains night and day to make his dream come true and prove something to himself. ALong the way, he heals a painfully broken relationship with his handsome, grown-up son.The acting in the movie was superb. All the roles were wonderfully performed and sincerely felt. Peter Mullan was excellent as Frank. So convincing, so touching, so from the heart. Billy Boyd was the epitome of adorable as Danny. He was lovable and funny and sensitive.Above all, this movie is all about believing in yourself and taking an impossible dream and making it come true. The message of this film is simple: You can conquer anything if you put your mind to it See this movie!!! You will be touched!!

This movie has strengths and weaknesses. Some of the strengths are its attempt to tell a 'real' story, without recourse to shtick, cliché, or pop-star trickery so common on TV and in movies these days. It seems obvious that the writer and director had visions of something deep, meaningful, as well as entertaining. Another strength is the reliance on the humans, and their real-world behaviors, fears, and hopes (etc.) for the 'current' flow of the movie. The camera lingers, the dialogue is written to enlighten us about the emotions (pleasant as well as despairing) of the characters. It may be said this is a character driven movie, perhaps? And, all of the cast do a commendable job of providing us with the characters' humanity and depth.Some of the weaknesses, however, are how all of the individual components of the writer and director's vision are executed. Many of the threads of the story simply go nowhere--- not that we necessarily need a big plot-ish conclusion to everything. But we do need some sense, anyway, of what various expositions mean. Sure, we could accept a bit of non-convention, and even artiness, but some of the elements of this story never were stitched together with any other parts of the movie. Worse, those orphaned parts were never really stitched up as themselves--- i.e., they never really completed themselves, nor made any real sense in and of themselves. Without discussing plot details, let me breezily mention the parts with Chan, the Chinese chippy guy, for example. These had neither a start, nor a finish--- we simply saw one brief middle, as it were.Overall, this is a pleasant movie--- but it isn't a great one. I looked up the director and the writer online, and didn't find much. If they are young, or young-ish, this effort might bode well. That is, this movie resembled a good student-like product from young and promising film makers. Young, in their careers anyway, regardless of their actual calendar year age, but very talented. People to watch in the future.'On A Clear Day' made me think of quilt makers. Imagine a master-to-be quilt maker; a quilt making artist whose work will be celebrated in the UK and America, and featured on PBS and BBC documentaries and featured in museums, etc. And then imagine this future master's last 'student' project, when she was 17 years old or so, before the magic clicked and she got great. This student work shows genius and promise, both undelivered as of now. That's what 'Clear Day' is like--- a quilt whose individual pieces are great, showing bright and future success, but not put together very well, showing immaturity and a student just beginning to blossom. Oh, the cast was great, and they obviously did everything they were asked to do, and they did it very well. The ill-fitting chunks weren't their fault--- they were just an artifact of the awkward and 'green' directorial efforts.Go see it anyway--- support the growth of these folks! I gave this an encouraging 8 out of 10.