What We Did On Our Holiday is one of those particular, rare films that inspires genuine laughter and draws tears in almost equal measure – and often simultaneously.
This stellar offering from writer/directors Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin is a gloriously irreverent and heartbreakingly honest middle finger at death. In the wry, unpolished way of British films, it plots a dysfunctional family’s encounter with the grim spectre as they struggle with the complicated business of living.
Gordie (Billy Connolly) is dying. His son Doug (David Tennant), with his wife Abi (Rosamund Pike) and their three idiosyncratic children – Lottie (Emilia Jones), Micky (Bobby Smalldridge) and Jess (Harriet Turnbull) – pack their car and drive north to celebrate Gordie’s 75th birthday with his other son Gavin (Ben Miller), who is carefully ignoring the unhappiness of his own stifled family. Everyone is keeping secrets from everyone else, and they must all come out by the end.
As a flippant and fair man who has gracefully come to terms with his impending death, Gordie is the rudder of the film – his live-and-let-live approach to life teaches the family what is important in life, and what is, as he puts it, ridiculous.
The whole cast is absolutely perfect, but the film is owned by the children, who are frustrated by their parents’ immature behaviour: neurotic Lottie, caught up in a tangle of ethical questions; Micky, who is obsessed with Vikings; and Jess, who steals keys, loves big rocks and holds her breath as a form of protest. Hamilton and Jenkin rely on a semi-improv technique when working with children, so most of the children’s lines are ad-libbed. They are startling and funny, and so beautifully honest.
This film doesn’t give easy solutions and happy-ever-afters, but it does offer a refreshing look at family, death, and what matters in life.
4.5/5 stars
What We Did On Our Hoiliday opens in cinemas on Thursday February 12.
