Review of The Lady in the Van (2015) by Stuart W — 01 Dec 2015
A glorious antidote to sickly cliched hollywood borefests, The Lady in the van asks serious questions about age, mental health and property prices in London.
The writing of Bennet is as one would expect excellent, appearing to be as sickly sweet at a meringue but with sharp barbs at our perceived understanding of how things should be.
The film works as a superb ensemble piece for a raft of excellent British actors and is well shot. Car enthusiasts will enjoy spotting the changing metal on the streets around Bennett's house.
Smith however is simply exceptional, proving that in a well written and sensitively directed work good actors can bloom magnificently. Without doubt she deserves a vanful awards for this.
There aren't huge guffaw inducing set piece jokes, but more laughs that build before being immediately pricked by a needle of sharp social comment.
Yes it tends to veer in the direction of 'Talking Heads' as all of Bennetts work does, but it's none the worse for that. Recommended.
This review of The Lady in the Van (2015) was written by Stuart W on 01 Dec 2015.
The Lady in the Van has generally received positive reviews.
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