Very intelligently shot on what is clearly not a lavish budget, this film punches way above its weight.
Catch the Port Talbot scenes with the screen broken in half and the follow up split screens later - the story is being intelligently told through its visuals, echoing the theme of the characters - so many things split them apart, but clearly in the end the heart has its reasons.
Love is Thicker Than Water has a very big heart indeed.
It isn't unconventional in its plotting - a "meet cute", followed by a rapturous series of encounters both emotional and sexual, then the meeting with both sets of parents (slight clouds on horizon), then the deaths, then the severe conflicts. And so on and so on. But the uptown girl/downtown boy meme is handled entertainingly (she's Jewish, he's Welsh) and both actors are so funny and delicious and their scenes together are so spontaneous that I was convinced that they weren't rehearsed but were rather a brilliant bit of improv. (As Lydia Wilson and Johnny Flynn are both highly professional actors I concede that that is unlikely).
Talking about professional actors, the whole cast is brilliant from the Big Names down to the very tiny parts. And the director(s), writer(s) and editor(s) are very secure in what they are trying to achieve so there are no moments where you think - WTF.
The animation which is Arthur's thing as well as Vida's cello playing thing are interesting and convincingly portrayed and provide a metaphor for how the relationship shifts from one pole to the other without collapsing.
It's not a pessimist's film I'm delighted to say but it never promises happiness ever after - so it's for the hopeful realists among us.
Enjoy.
Extra Bonus - the music.
Review of Love Is Thicker Than Water
