PHANTOM OF THE OPEN - AT THE ARTS PICTUREHOUSE
Is it time to feel better about feel good films? ‘The Phantom of the Open’ is slap bang in the black hole of the genre with that peculiar added twist: the British no hoper coming good. We are clearly in the world of Billy Elliot and Little Voice out of The Smallest Show on Earth and many more. Here a golfing Eddie the Eagle with no skill, but astonishing self belief, comes good – out of adversity comes a certain triumph. How different from the American take on failure. Think ‘Ed Wood’ in which Johnny Depp plays the true life ‘world’s worst film director’. Here there is love and affection for the disastrous auteur but no tear-inducing victorious denouement.
Ed Wood came to mind when watching Mark Rylance as Maurice Flitcroft, the ‘world’s worst golfer’. Never mind a hole-in-one, in the 1975 British Open, our hero really did score a hole in 121 – the worst round in the prestigious tournament’s history. Flitcroft, a former crane driver from Barrow-in-Furnace, may have been rubbish at golf but he shone as an indefatigable hoaxer who though barred from the Open came back in a variety of improbable disguises to infuriate the establishment gents but entertain the crowds.
Rylance dominates the film. His character is gentle hearted and dirt poor but one of those stalwarts who never give up hope. Rylance’s take on the real-life Flitcroft (who died in 2007) is full of compassion and good heart. He is supported by Sally Hawkins doing her usual Sally Hawkins thing as the cheery wife who always stands by her man. Rhys Ifans puts in a good shot as the ‘baddie’ – a blazered gent from the Royal and Ancient who can never quite get his man bunkered.
PHOTO: eOne
Domestic tensions provide some extra drama beyond the ‘how terrible can this phoney golfer be’. But at heart the film is all a vehicle for Rylance as the downtrodden working class Englishman with an unshakeable belief in the mantra – ‘from practice comes perfection’. Being a feel good film, the narrative follows the well-worn 18-hole course of events – happy poverty – audacious attempt at success – abject failure – back in the gutter – but staring up at the stars and final redemption. Rylance’s fellow actors are given the thinnest of veneers and it would be no surprise to see Alistair Sim or Margaret Rutherford wandering on to the set of this rebooted Ealing comedy.
The formula then for the Brit feel-good movie is well cast. And this film does work – yes it induced a tear or two from your hard-hearted reviewer. But one can’t help feeling that maybe some other paradigm for feeling good might be explored one day. Any movie that does that would on my scorecard be massively under par. I would love to watch that birdie.
