REVIEW - EVERYDAY

Michael Winterbottom has consistently more faith in his experiments than I do. He executes them without fault, but it is not in their execution that I find any fault, it is in their conception. I enjoy most films like Everyday - observing ordinary people living (generally) ordinary lives, and the idea of visiting the same family over the course of five years (and shooting in the same time span) harbours some potential interest. But Winterbottom gently lays the manifestation, most credible, of his idea on the screen. He imbues it with no character, and his passivity kills all that potential interest. Reality is what we have to be content with as people; on film, we seek fulfillment in whatever concept we are presented with. There are directorial methods of enhancing reality on screen without sacrificing any authenticity. Winterbottom foregoes these methods, intentionally, I believe, and his film suffers resultantly. The unrehearsed quality of the acting is enchanting, though - the four children are played by amateur siblings, each using their own name, and played quite exceptionally. There is nothing artificial in their acting, they are not self-consciously 'natural', even, as so many professional actors often are. Shirley Henderson is also very good as their mother, although John Simm is apparently incapable of suggesting any profound measure of character - he's Everyday's everyman, when he ought to be its most striking feature. Photography (by five DPs) is fine, and Michael Nyman accomplishes his usual feat of ingratiating his score into the film's pre-existing texture and, thus, redefining it.