Dog Altogether

This July I decided to go away with my friends to a music festival held in the small seaside town of Benicassim in Spain. I was busy sunning myself at the beach on the Sunday of the festival when out of the corner of my eye I spotted a man in scruffy work boots, baggy shorts and a blue short sleeved shirt jumping up and down on the spot. I kept one eye on this man whilst I applied some suncream and as he ceased to jump and began to walk up the beach in my direction I noticed that both he and his companion donned VIP passes. I immediately began studying the gent's face. In shock and awe I instantly rose to my feet and in a style not unlike that of the gay friend in Bridget Jones ("Fight! It's a reeeal fight!") I exclaimed to my friends, "It's, it's, it's 'touch it'! It's bloody 'touch it'! It's Paddy Considine!" . . .

Yes, the British acting legend that is Paddy Considine was gracing our beach with his presence in Spain. We had just happened to be quoting him all week from his hilarious, yet harrowing role in Shane Meadows' A Room For Romeo Brass, Considine's first film. ("touch it" - my bumbling - is one of the funniest phrases from the film). My friends and I rushed over to him, got a quick photo and an autograph and as we were singing his praises he told us he was at Benicassim to show his directorial debut Dog Altogether in the afternoon. (I thought we were privvy to some international premiere, but I now realised it was released several months prior to July)! We let him stroll off along the beach-front as we gleefully rushed back to our stuff to check our programmes and two hours later we were queuing up for a short film festival in town! We watched five shorts, each about 20mins long, by five different directors/writers including Paddy (first name terms now we're best mates 'n all).

Dog Altogether was excellent. It's a great tale of realisation and regret as Joseph (Peter Mullan), a man plagued by violence  and rage, is driven further and further towards self destruction. After a series of violent and irrational attacks in the story, Joseph breaks down and is aided by 'the good Samaritan', Anita, played by Peep Show's Olivia Colman.

Considine is clearly talented as much behind the camera as he is in front of it, and he skillfully directs some emotive scenes. In a pub setting, Joseph' rage is triggered by rowdy young men playing pool. Considine's camerawork visually represents extremely effectively what must be going through Joseph's head as the message is clearly put across to the audience, yet not a word is uttered. The camera does all the work, the sign of a great director I'm sure. Joseph goes to the toilets and appears to psych himself up in a scene similar to that of a boxing movie or even in the Godfather before Al Pacino shoots the Police Chief in the restaurant. Although not completely original, it is still well composed. Another particularly memorable moment is when Joseph finally breaks down and cowers behind a clothes rack in a charity shop. You can't help but feel for him despite the horrible things he has done and it feels almost like he is a child, hiding, sulking or whimpering. An excellent portrayal of the character. It is clear that Considine has learnt from the master, Shane Meadows, and this film's success is as much down to Mullan's great performance as it is Considine's effort, but you cannot fault his work in this film and it is his first venture into the writing and directing world of screenplay. Paddy Considine won a well-deserved BAFTA for best short for Dog Altogether.

Be sure to keep a keen eye out for any future work involving Considine, in particular 'Tyrannosaur', a follow-up to Dog Altogether, in post production at the moment I believe. (Below - my chums and I with Mr. Paddy Considine after the short film thing. Looks like a school trip!)