The Grand Seduction – Review by Frank L.

Directed by Don McKellar

Writers: Michael Dowse, Ken Scott

Stars: Taylor Kitsch, Brendan Gleeson, Liane Balaban

In Cinemas – August 29th.

The citizens of Tickle Head, a small village in Newfoundland, had a tough but rewarding life living by their wits and their skills as they fished the surrounding seas. However fishing ceased to be a sustainable livelihood and the village became dependant on welfare payments from central government. Apathy became the dominant force and any sense of hope was drained from the community. The village needed employment. It needed a factory. Step into the breach Murray (Brendan Gleeson). His self-respect had gradually been eroded by the years of steady decline but something needed to be done. There were a series of preconditions needed to be overcome/ surmounted/ circumvented in order to obtain a factory one of which was having in residence a local doctor. Step forward Dr. Lewis (Taylor Kitsch)… a young handsome doctor, with a small coke problem and a deep addiction to cricket, who has to be hoodwinked into appearing as if he were a resident local doctor to the authorities even if he has no idea that he is playing such a role.

The foundations of a situation comedy are thus laid out firmly. The location for the shooting of the film is Newfoundland and the scenery is simply splendid. I have little doubt that the film will create a desire amongst many to see the scenery which is so elegantly depicted… a boon to the Newfoundland tourist authorities. The wooden clapboard cottages and houses are welcoming in their appearance and add to the feeling that this is a place where there is or ought to be a good balance between man and nature. The film exudes a feel-good factor.

There is much gentle wacky fun with eaves dropping by two female telephone operators who are no spring chickens, daft fishing expeditions with the gullible Dr. Lewis, the duping of the owners of the potential new factory of this, that and the other and the wooing of the young post mistress, Kathy, (Liane Balaban) who is as pretty as Dr. Lewis is handsome. It would be very hard not to smile. It all has an innocent charm. However Murray’s single minded determination to obtain some employment for his community and his awareness that the only way to succeed is to rely on his own skills and subterfuges has a message which has a wider importance even if the seduction methods which Murray employs are unlikely to bear fruit if tried for a second time. Gleeson and Kitsch both give fine performances supported by a cast who are credible even when they are required to play at the edges of credibility. It is a delicious confection… a cup cake of delight.