Radiator

As I was having one of my occasional chats with Tony Kane yesterday, he told me that his daughter, Sarah, had worked as the production designer on a film called Radiator. He has seen it, and recommended it to me.

In cinemas from 27 November. Also screening at Picturehouse Cinemas for Discover Tuesdays on 29 December.

Director: Tom Browne.

Starring: Richard Johnson, Gemma Jones, Daniel Cerqueira. UK 2014.

Careworn teacher Daniel (Cerqueira) is summoned by his elderly mother Mariah (Jones) to his parents’ remote, rubbish-filled, ramshackle cottage, where his infirm and incontinent father, Leonard (Johnson), is refusing to move from the sofa. Disapproved of as a failure by his irascible, demanding father, Daniel eventually persuades Leonard into a specially adapted bed and the care of a visiting nurse. That, in a nutshell, is the darkly amusing plot of director/co-writer Tom Browne’s film, a pithy, highly watchable account of the unravelling of a marriage held together only by fear and familiarity, albeit underscored by a son’s good intentions. As two of Britain’s most seasoned character actors, Jones and Johnson give of their terrific best, while co-writer Cerqueira emanates exactly the right degree of frustrated, put-upon affection. A joy.

I seem to have missed it at the cinemas and I can't find any trace on Amazon or iTunes yet, but I will keep an eye out; directed by a guy who shares my surname I was pleased to see.