Review of Irina Palm (2007) by John H — 08 Jul 2008

Irina Palm helps out chaps who might otherwise have acquired a hairy palm. As middle-aged frump Maggie she is a refugee from a dull lower middle class existence peopled with curiously unsympathetic characters including her feckless son, his hard-bitten wife, and Maggie's snooty and bossy best friend. The only light in her bleak existence is Tiny Tim archetype and grandson Ollie, suffering from a terminal non-specific illness which is resistant to all but the most radical new treatment which is only available in Australia. Is this beginning to sound like tosh to you ?

To cut a long story short, she discovers an aptitude for administering hand relief in a seedy sex club staffed by genuine people. The dialogue lumbers and the characters universally fail to convince. Just another in a depressing line of recent British co-productions which exalt gangsters and sex club owners while failing to present anything like a realistic picture of the squalor and exploitation involved. Yes, you really could leave your back door unlocked when the Krays ruled the streets.

Sad to say, for someone who saw Jenny Agutter in Logan's Run at a formative age, she pops up here pretty far down the cast list as the unpleasant best friend.