Comfort and Joy

(Bill Forsyth/1984/UK)

Trailing the romantic ups and downs of Allan Bird, a Glaswegian radio show DJ who inadvertently gets caught up in an Italian ice cream selling turf war, Comfort and Joy is resolutely off beat and quirky. Like all Forsyth’s films it has an innate charm and downbeat warmth towards the vagaries of life but it takes a massive misstep early on and struggles to right itself from then on. The character of Maddy, played by Eleanor David, is so engaging and vivid that she commands the screen in every scene she’s in. Once they, quite inexplicably, separate and she becomes secondary her absence onscreen is pronounced to the point of rendering Bird’s random narrative a bit pale. But if you’re willing to accept the best actor and character has gone from the story and watch on, the comedy of errors and coincidence that follows is ultimately heart warming. Set at Christmas time Forsyth has provided an alternative to the usual festive film fare with another of his eccentric and funny takes on the happenstance and kismet of life on earth.

(3/5)