Liam Neeson, Leslie Manville
“ORDINARY LOVE” My rating: B+
92 minutes | MPAA rating: R
In an era of caped escapism, an intimate cancer drama like “Ordinary Love” has about as much chance as a penguin in the shark pool.
But those daring enough to take the risk will discover an acting tour de force saturated in pain and beauty, a drama that effectively tells a universal story precisely because its characters are largely unremarkable.
The challenge facing writer Owen McCafferty, directors Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn and their principal players (Liam Neeson and Leslie Manville) is to make their yarn compelling without resorting to heroics, histrionics or bigger-than-life characterizations.
They succeed to a degree I didn’t think possible.
Tom and Joan (Neeson, Manville) are a retired couple living in Belfast (we never do learn anything about their careers). At first glance their marriage seems more or less ideal. He’s charmingly irascible, a guy who goes for long walks with the Missus, then claims that entitles him to one more beer.
She’s no shrinking violet, apparently relishing the banter that has them dueling with gentle witticisms.
They’ve got a nice house and apparently no money woes. Their mantel feature a framed photo of a pretty young woman, obviously their daughter. Only much later do we realize that the subject, their only child, died some years before.
The unremarkable patterns of Tom and Joan’s life are upended when she discovers a lump in her breast.
Butler's Cinema Scene 