Better Things (15)

"A work of great beauty... " Sight & Sound

Director: Duane Hopkins
Starring: Liam McIlfatrick, Che Corr, Tara Ballard, Rachel McIntyre
UK, 2008, 1 hour 33 minutes

Wed 1 April 6.00pm / Fri 3 4.00pm - The Courtyard Hereford

Set in the Cotswolds, this is a restrained, beautiful study of the realities of life in rural England that lingers long in the memory. The isolation of country life gives a new twist to a familiar, teenage tale - love hurts, life sucks, heroin kills. While the young fill their days with cheap drugs to combat their boredom, their parents are largely absent and the grandparents are as lonely, miserable and ready to die as the kids. This heartfelt first feature may sound like an exercise in miserabilism, but its stunning cinematography, marked by precise framing and the poetic use of landscapes and faces, makes for an unflinching realism reminiscent of the Dardennes brothers.

On Wednesday 1 April Producer Samm Haillay will be present to introduce the film and, after the screening, in conversation with Natasha Carlish, BAFTA-winning regional producer