Stuart: A Life BackwardsStarring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hardy and Nicola Duffett
Year: 2007
Watched: 3/1/11
What the fudge is it?
The story of an author (Alexander) who befriends a homeless man named Stuart. As the two become closer Alexander begins to write a book based on the traumatic life of Stuart. As Stuart recalls the events of his life we begin to learn how and why he got so out of control.
What I Thought...
I was given this film to watch at least over a year ago and like the stubborn lazy shite i am I didnt watch it. The poor homeless mans story lay on the DVD shelf. It then found a home in another house where it stayed on the DVD shelf and finally moved to our new place where it lay on the shelf again. Thank god for the blog because now I have finally watched it and can avoid Matt (the owner of the DVD) asking me have i watched it yet.
The reason it took me so long to watch it was i knew for a fact it was going to be a little depressing. You can make a film about a homeless, alco, smackhead without it being depressing. I was right....but not totally.
The main reason i was given the film to watch was because i think Tom Hardy is a fantastic actor. I even liked him in Star Trek and i hate Star Trek. If there is a Trekkie reading this first off i hope i am spelling trekkie wrong to annoy you and secondly i dont like the show or the films really, bit boring and bit pants.
I was talking about Tom Hardy.....Tom Hardy plays Stuart, a homeless wreck who stumbles his way into a friendship with Alexander. Hardy is the source of all the humour and tragedy of this film. Anyone who has spoken to an alcoholic/homeless/drug user will instantly recognize how good Hardy is at playing the part. (I lived in Boro, don't question my interactions with the afore mentioned)
Hardy has the walk, talk and gestures of a wreck of a human and is fantastic to watch. For the majority of the film we see Stuart interact with Alexander (Benedict Cumberbatch). The scenes with the two are either ackward, sad or funny. Stuart decides to cook for Alexander (deep fried bacon sandwich followed but Corn beef curry) the whole scenes provides some valued comic relief.
Although Hardy is brilliant the character often speaks so jarbled that you simply cant understand him. i know this is realistic but it is slightly annoying. The DVD didn't have subtitles so i just had to guess what he said. There are small sections when Stuart speaks in a very intelligent way and resembles the swagger of Jack Sparrow, these although they may be true just stuck out like a sore thumb.
The structure of the film keeps you guessing for the majority of what exactly happened Stuart during his childhood although the big reveal is not delivered as well as some of the other key moments. The majority of the film is great and i really enjoyed it.....
I do have one major complaint. Something that really grinded my gears. There are sections of the film with short animations. These may have been included to show a more childish/innocent side of the story or even to try and lighten the mood of the piece. For me they stuck out and just broke the mood of the film. The animation itself was ok but just didnt sit in with the film. I remember watching the body shocks documentary called the man who ate his lover. This included little sections of animation that were perfect for the mood of the show. They were just freaky and creeped me out. I think the idea behind the animations in Stuart: A life backwards was similar but it seems to fail. Not only do the animations not suit the film but they are used so sparatically they almost seem to belong to another film.
Overall
Really enjoyed the film. Tom Hardy is brilliant as always and the story is interesting, sad and even slightly uplifting at times. Suffers some a strange collection of animations that don't suit the movie.
4/5
For anyone interested in the man who ate his lover the link is here.
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