BLACK MOUNTAIN POETS
Dir: Jamie Adams (15, 85 mins)
Welsh film maker Jamie Adams returns with his third and most accomplished film to date, following Benny and Jolene and A Wonderful Christmas Time, rounding out a loose trilogy of modern romance movies. As with his previous two films this is a film with a blueprint, improvised by its talented cast over the course of five days. A fast and furious film making model that has culminated in charming, human films outside of mainstream rom-com. The excellent pairing of Dolly Wells and Alice Lowe anchors events, playing sisters, who, after a failed attempt to steal a JCB, end up on the run. They find a car, belonging to the poets, the Wilding sisters (Hannah Daniel and Clare Cage), and assume their identities at a poetry retreat where a cash prize is at stake. Also at the retreat is Tom Cullen, who is soon the centre of a love quadrangle with Wells, Lowe and competitive, ambitious and jealous poet Rosa Robson. Brilliantly lensed by Ryan Owen Eddleston despite being made on the fly, Black Mountain Poets is warm and witty with some stand out lines, Lowe’s reading of a Tesco receipt as a poem is a highlight, as is her great chemistry with Dolly Wells. There’s also solid support from Richard Elis, Laura Patch and Roger Evans as fellow iambic enthusiasts. Give it some stanza.