A look at the life of artist L.S. Lowry and his relationship with his mother who is not in favour of his paintings and his love for being an artist.
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I found this film to be terribly engaging from start to finish and put together in a truly lovely manner. With L S Lowry constantly wanting to paint and doing so in the attic of the house he has almost always lived in with his mother Elizabeth. She is bed bound and has been for the past ten years. She is constantly horrible to her son who hasn't really had much of a life because of her and the way she has treated him over the years.
This made it rather sad at times you cannot help but feel deeply sorry for him in what is an awful relationship. He would have felt that he had to help his mother and this led to him not really doing much without her. He had to be back home to serve her dinner and make sure she was comfortable. She was openly horrible about his paintings saying that she has never liked as single one of them.
I guess that is not something you expect from someone who is then actually very successful. You assume they have been supported and cared about from family members. This was not the case for Lowry and that was tough to take at times considering he was given a very good offer from London to display his work.
Some scenes are shown in flashback form to his childhood and moments that shaped him as a person and an artist. Inspiration for different paintings and being able to recall certain events from memory. Taking on the same job as his father rent collector and attempting to pay of the debt he was in mainly due to his mother not wanting to believe she was actually working class.
The film very much relies on the performances from Timothy and Spall and Vanessa Redgrave. They are both incredible throughout the film and interact very well with one another, considering the film only has a couple of other characters who I wouldn't even call supporting it was paramount that the pair produced something special. I believe that is exactly what happened with this film, two outstanding performances.
Timothy Spall really has chosen some fantastic projects over the years and this one is no different. His mannerisms of the tortured artist were very impressive to watch. Going through many different emotions as he is struggling with the life he has been struck with. Vanessa Redgrave producing an amazing performance like this is great to watch, showing that older actresses need more roles like this one.
An emotional journey which manages to combine some humorous moments to lighten the mood a little bit at different times really was something that I enjoyed. With a short running time of 91 minutes it gave the two leading actors time to showcase the talent they have with interesting characters on display.
