Lad: A Yorkshire Story (2013) Reviews

• A fantastic, and very British, drama

  mw-clarkson2014-11-21

  "When Tom Proctor's dad dies, his world falls apart; his brother joins the army, his mum is threatened with eviction and Tom faces criminal prosecution after spreading manure over the local bank. All this changes however when Tom meets park ranger Al Thorpe in this inspiring story of two individuals overcoming adversity and finding true friendship." The film is beautifully shot, and the landscapes alone are well worth 96 minutes of your time (Dan Mackie has won several awards for his cinematography in 'Lad'). The story tugs on the heartstrings in all the right places - you'll laugh, you'll cry, and above all you'll find the characters utterly compelling and believable. There's some wonderful comedic moments to counterpoint the emotional challenges facing the Tom and his mum, and Al's grand-daughter makes a very welcome appearance (certainly as far as Tom's concerned). As a first time film-maker Dan Hartley does a brilliant job and the cast are both believable and engaging throughout, avoiding the trap of overplaying their roles. The film has won numerous awards at film festivals across the world and justifiably so. I'm only sad that the film didn't find a mainstream distributor to get it into more cinemas.

• Review from a Yorkshire lass

  barrowlinda2018-08-22

  What a tear jerker which brough out so many emotions within me. I am still thinking about it now. Although my heart went out to Tom who lost three male influences in his life. I felt for his Mum as not only did she have to endure the loss of her husband and potentially their home , she had to deal with her two sons. The one son going off to the army and all the trauma and heartache around Tom. She was one strong woman, whom I admired to the end. The beautiful Yorkshire Dales were so beautiful, it made me think of how anything bad could happen around their beauty and brought a smile to my face. Being from Yorkshire myself but not having lived there for a very long time, I loved the accents especially Als, his reminded me of my dad who is no longer with us and every time he spoke I had a lump in my throat. Great film, great location, loved it

• Simply Beautiful

  ataylor-257802018-01-19

  Beautiful, just beautiful. Beautiful story, beautiful acting (absolutely amazing everyday people pulling off Oscar worthy performances) stunning cinematography, & perfectly suited score. Spawned a great discussion for our library's Film Critics Club, & received 2 thumbs up from all!

• Lad

  startrekfan722018-08-11

  This is a very thought invoking film, with many layers of thought going on hear, you have a family that has been torn apart by gut wrenching loss and heart ache, in the loss of their father and Husband, the hardest hit is Tom the youngest at thirteen he felt the brunt of the responsibility for his family as his Brother went off to the Army, he was left to fend for the family having to sell his prized rock collection to send his mother to tractor trailer school, that took heart to do, and steeling that tractor and spreading crap on the bank took wat the Greek,s call Th'rros Guts and courage, and I would say that boy has it in spades, this is a coming of age story for the whole family but will take your full attention because of the Upper Highlands accents, this a one for the whole family no bad language at ,east that we can understand. I would give it a rating of PG loosely. worth a watch

• A British Story

  cpeers-293422018-08-24

  I want to persuade you to watch this movie. I am not going to give an overview of the plot because it is not needed. If you like to stumble on a film where the lead performance is a tour de force, where British talent is showcased and you are intrigued by the Yorkshire backdrop then give this a chance. The story unfolds slowly but it will be etched on your memory.