bob the moo Review of Going Back

Going Back (I) (2001)

A touching little story thanks to convincingly natural characters, dialogue and acting

[29 August 2005]

When his father commits suicide, Douglas returns home to see his Granny for the first time in a year. His Uncle Dennis doesn't want a word said about the means of his father's death but rather that he keep his Granny in the dark on the issue of suicide. The plot is quite simple and requires us to step into the characters quickly, because it is in their hearts where the story really happens. The writing helps a great deal on this, because the dialogue and characters are well crafted and convincing from the very start and it is easy to feel for them. The acting goes a long way to making this work as well, because they are also touchingly convincing. Taylor does well to play character holding it in while also letting the audience see while Audrey Brady is impressive as the Granny. Paul Tonkinson is a strange find in a minor role as the mortician. The direction is good and uses a mix of shots and frames well – the simplest and most effective is the camera looking in the windscreen of the car, static at the end as Douglas and his Granny talk.