Journeyman (2017)

Journeyman is the second directorial feature from Paddy Considine, who also wrote the script and stars in the lead role, and it's another incredibly moving and sad film, albeit in different ways from his impressive feature debut, Tyrannosaur.

Considine is Matty Burton, a boxer coming to the end of his career. He has a loving wife (Emma, played by Jodie Whittaker) and a very young daughter. He also has some good friends in his corner (including Tony Pitts and Paul Popplewell) as he faces off against a young, tough boxer who calls himself the future (Anthony Welsh). When his last fight ends, Burton ends up with an injury that affects his brain, and his personality.

The first thing that I noted about Journeyman was the quality cast. Considine has a knack for picking people that can handle the material he gives them, and his own performance is yet another flawless turn in a career full of them. While everyone else does well in their roles, it's Whittaker who easily equals Considine, going through a whole range of emotions in many scenes as she watches the man she loves act like a child, a stranger, or even a potential threat, as his brain refuses to let him find himself.

The second thing I noted is a minor criticism. As the boxing sequence began I felt that it wasn't shot too well. I started to hope that the film wouldn't be focused on the boxing if it wasn't going to be as well shot as any other scenes. I needn't have worried. The boxing is integral to the plot but this is not really a boxing movie. It's a film about a journey, and not just the journey of the main character. The journey also involves his friends and, most importantly, his wife, often struggling without any other support around her.

You could argue that this is a clichéd film, and there are certainly moments that will feel familiar if you have watched any other film about someone trying to overcome major adversity, but that doesn't dilute the power of it. I spent a couple of scenes on edge, there is the threat of violence in a couple of scenes that affected me like a bucket of cold water splashed into my face, but most of the film reduced me to a tear-streaked wreck with a big lump in my throat (a scene with a phone call between Considine and Whittaker will move even the toughest viewer in my opinion).

The film is about love, loyalty (Pitts and Popplewell spend a chunk of the movie avoiding the friend they no longer recognise, or know how to help), pain, and forgiveness (kudos to the writing for not painting the boxer played by Welsh as a panto villain, which allows the actor at least one great moment in the second half).

I was encouraged to watch this recently when it was picked as a film club choice. If that hadn't happened then I don't know how long I would have taken to get to it. Don't make the same mistake as I did. Get on it as soon as you can. Considine has been one of my favourite actors for many years, and he's now also one of my favourite writer/directors.

9/10

Journeyman can, and should, be bought here.