Sometimes Always Never | |
---|---|
Directed by | Carl Hunter |
Written by | Frank Cottrell Boyce |
Produced by | Roy Boulter Alan Latham Sol Papadopoulos |
Starring | Bill Nighy Sam Riley Alice Lowe Jenny Agutter Tim McInnerny Alexei Sayle |
Cinematography | Richard Stoddard |
Edited by | Stephen Haren |
Music by | Edwyn Collins Sean Read |
Production companies | Goldfinch Studios Hurricane Films |
Distributed by | Blue Fox Entertainment |
Release dates |
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Running time | 91 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Box office | $1.45 million [1] |
Sometimes Always Never is a 2018 British comedy-drama film directed by Carl Hunter and written by Frank Cottrell Boyce, starring Bill Nighy, Sam Riley, and Jenny Agutter.
Alan is a stylish tailor with moves as sharp as his suits. But he's spent years searching tirelessly for his missing son, Michael, who stormed out over a game of Scrabble. With a body to identify and his family torn apart, Alan must repair the relationship with his younger son and identify an online player who he thinks could be Michael, so that he can finally move on and reunite his family. [2]
On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 82% based on 95 reviews, and an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Like the grieving Scrabble enthusiast at the heart of its unique story, Sometimes Always Never scores high enough to be well worth a play." [3] Metacritic reports a score of 67/100 based on 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [4]
Kambole Campbell of Empire wrote, "Despite strong performances and a witty script, Sometimes Always Never lays on the homage a little too thick for its own good, shortchanging itself by imitating a particularly idiosyncratic style." [5] Wendy Ide of The Guardian wrote, "The danger of an offbeat British film, particularly one that is as emphatically designed as this, is that it could teeter into whimsy and artifice. But thanks to Cottrell Boyce, and the assured direction of first-time feature film-maker Carl Hunter, the emotional beats are authentic and the distinctive look of the film – it takes its aesthetic cues from '60s ties and '70s wallpaper – never upstages the story." [6]
The Farm are a British band from Liverpool. Their first album, Spartacus, reached the top position on the UK Albums Chart when it was released in March 1991; Spartacus 30 was released in 2021 to commemorate the anniversary. Spartacus includes two songs which had been top 10 singles the year before. In 2012, they toured with their Spartacus Live shows and formed part of the Justice Tonight Band, supporting the Stone Roses at Heaton Park, Phoenix Park, Lyon and Milan. The Justice Collective had the 2012 Christmas number one with their recording of "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother".
Carl James Hunter is an English director and screenwriter and the bassist in the Liverpool-based pop group The Farm.
Roy Boulter was the English drummer in the Liverpool-based pop group The Farm. He joined the band in 1987, enjoying success with the number one album, Spartacus, and hits such as "Groovy Train" and "All Together Now". The Farm re-formed, occasionally touring and playing festivals. In 2011 the band provided the nucleus of The Justice Tonight Band, joined by Mick Jones, Pete Wylie and Andrew Davitt. The band was formed to raise awareness about the injustice surrounding the Hillsborough disaster - Boulter and Farm lead-singer Peter Hooton were both present at the tragedy. The Justice Tonight Band toured the UK and Europe spreading the message about Hillsborough and the twenty-three years of injustice endured by the families and victims of the tragedy.
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