Director: Clio Barnard
The first thing to know about this documentary is the unique lip-synching style, in which actors lip-synch real dialogue from interviews of real people. It's a pretty unique documentary method and Clio Barnard does it well enough that it offers a new way of making documentaries. It seems to give more freedom to the director to take real testimonies but frame them in any way the director sees fit. More power to the artist is something I am always for. The style also makes for some great scenes that question the difference between documentary and "based on a true story" fiction film.
The story itself starts off as a documentary about the life of playwright Andrea Dunbar's. Parts of the film are filmed scenes from the eponymous famous play of hers, and those plays give us a very inside look at Dunbar's life. But the film eventually turns into a movie about her first daughter, Lorraine's. It's a long downward spiral that is sad, but not new or original and has many of the same lessons we're already used to. The subject doesn't seem completely worthy of the stylistic treatment that Barnard gives, but the style itself is unique and for documentary fans I'd recommend it just for the style.
Grade: B
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