Tyrannosaur (film)

Tyrannosaur
Tyrannosaur original poster by Dan McCarthy
Directed by	Paddy Considine
Written by	Paddy Considine
Produced by	Diarmid Scrimshaw Mark Herbert
Starring	Peter Mullan Olivia Colman Eddie Marsan Paul Popplewell Sally Carman
Cinematography	Erik Wilson
Edited by	Pia Di Ciaula
Production companies	Warp X Inflammable Films Film4 Productions UK Film Council Screen Yorkshire EM Media Optimum Releasing
Distributed by	StudioCanal
Release dates	21 January 2011 (2011-01-21) (Sundance) 7 October 2011 (2011-10-07) (United Kingdom)
Running time	92 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£750,000[1]
Box office	£396,930[2]

Tyrannosaur is a 2011 British drama film written and directed by Paddy Considine and starring Peter Mullan, Olivia Colman, Eddie Marsan, Paul Popplewell and Sally Carman.

In a drunken rage, widower Joseph kicks his dog Bluey to death, which he immediately regrets. He then goes to the local post office, where he causes a confrontation with several Pakistani employees, and later attacks three men who were teasing him at his local pub. After fleeing the pub, he hides in a charity shop, where he meets a compassionate employee, Hannah. A devout Christian, she prays for him to let go of his troubles and find his way.

Joseph returns home and encounters his six-year-old neighbour Samuel outside while his mother is inside with her abusive boyfriend. Later that evening, the Pakistani men from the post office surprise him and beat him unconscious. The following day, Joseph goes to Hannah's shop, where she tends to his injuries. Despite her kindness, he mocks her faith in God and insults her for not being able to have children, leaving her upset. She goes home, drinks wine and falls asleep. When her husband, James, arrives home and is unable to awaken her, he urinates on her.

Joseph goes to the shop again the next morning to apologise for his behaviour, and they go for a drink. Upon returning home, James tells Hannah that someone saw her earlier that day with another man, which she denies. When Hannah comes to work the following morning with a black eye, she tells Joseph that she fell in the bath. Later on, after Joseph's friend Jack dies from cancer, he goes back to the shop for a suit for the funeral. James enters and after seeing them laughing together, quietly threatens Hannah. When he returns home that night, a violent altercation ensues, in which James knocks out and then rapes Hannah while she is barely conscious.

Hannah leaves James and asks Joseph if she can stay with him for a while, and he agrees. The pair grow closer and become good friends. Joseph reveals that his obese wife has been dead for five years due to complications from having diabetes. He tells Hannah that he regrets using the nickname "Tyrannosaur" for his wife, a dig at her weight that he only ever saw as a joke.

After so long, Joseph tells Hannah that she is not safe with him and suggests she leave. After attending Jack's funeral, Joseph decides to confront James. He takes Hannah's keys and goes to her house, where he finds James's bloody corpse in the bedroom. Shocked, he returns home and confronts Hannah. She initially feigns confusion but then breaks down, revealing that James had been brutally abusing her for a long time; he once sexually penetrated her with glass, leaving her unable to bear children.

A year later, Joseph writes a letter to Hannah, telling her Samuel was mauled by his mother's boyfriend's dog; in retaliation, Joseph beheaded the dog with a machete. He also admits that he had always admired her from afar, as she was the only person in town to smile at him and show him kindness, which is why he had approached her in the first place. The film ends with Joseph visiting Hannah in prison. Despite everything, they both appear hopeful for a better future.

Tyrannosaur is an expansion of Dog Altogether, a short film for Warp Films that Considine wrote and directed, which won the Best Short Film BAFTA and BIFA awards as well as the Silver Lion award at Venice in 2007.^[3] The film received a grant of £206,540 from the National Lottery fund through the UK Film Council. The remainder of the film's budget came from Warp X, Inflammable Films, Film4, Screen Yorkshire,^[4] EM Media, and Optimum Releasing (StudioCanal). It depicts an environment similar to what Considine witnessed growing up on a council estate in the Midlands, although the film is in no way autobiographical.^[5] The film's title is a metaphor, the meaning of which is revealed in the film.

The film is set in an unspecified town in the North of England, although much of it was shot on location in residential areas of Leeds^[3] and Wakefield, including Seacroft, Cross Gates, Eccup, Harehills and Alwoodley, and the accents of many of the main characters are drawn from a wide geographical area. The film refers to the fictional Manners Estate as an area in the town where the more wealthy inhabitants reside. Manners Estate is the name of the council estate in the parish of Winshill near Burton-on-Trent, where Paddy Considine grew up.

Many of the extras used in the film were local residents, including local busker Chris Wheat, who was given a part after singing to the cast and crew on set.^[3] He performs his own original song in the film. Workers from the local St Vincent's Charity Shop used in the film were also given small parts. Several other small roles were given to crew members, including the film's producer, Diarmid Scrimshaw, the film's make-up designer, Nadia Stacey, and the production coordinator, Samantha Milnes, who was featured in a photo as Joseph's late wife. The film is dedicated to Considine's late mother, Pauline Considine. The end credits gives special thanks to both James Marsh and Gary Oldman.^[3]

The film contained the following tracks. Original music was composed by Chris Baldwin and Dan Baker.^[3]

1. "Wand'rin' Star" – Nick Hemming (of The Leisure Society), cover of Lee Marvin's 1969 hit song from the western musical film Paint Your Wagon
2. "This Gun Loves you Back" – Chris Baldwin (written By Paddy Considine & Chris Baldwin)
3. "Truth or Glory" – JJ All Stars
4. "Saturday Night" – JJ All Stars
5. "Psycho Mash" – JJ All Stars
6. "Hi Jack" – Chris Wheat
7. "Sing All Our Cares Away" – Damien Dempsey
8. "We Were Wasted" – The Leisure Society

The film grossed £396,930, below its £750,000 production budget.^[2][6]

Tyrannosaur received positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds an approval rating of 83%, based on 88 reviews. The critical consensus states: "Tyrannosaur is a brutal, frank, and ultimately rewarding story of violent men seeking far-off redemption."^[7] The film also has a score of 65 out of 100 based on 18 critics on Metacritic, indicating "Generally favourable reviews".^[8]

Kim Newman of Empire wrote the "character study is as gripping as any hardboiled thriller, delivering emotional content that'll stay with you for a long time", and gave it 4/5 stars.^[9] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian also awarded the film 4 out of 5 stars and wrote, "I have heard Tyrannosaur criticised as a movie that comes too close to miserablist cliche, but that isn't true: it's a visceral, considered dissection of abuse and rage and the dysfunctional relationships that rage creates, which, in turn, perpetuate that rage, and an examination of people who create their own eco-system of anger and unhappiness. The performances of Mullan, Colman and Marsan are excellent and create a compelling human drama. Tyrannosaur is far from a love story, but it is not a simply a hate story, either; it is certainly a very impressive debut from Considine."^[10] Other publications that awarded the film 4/5 stars included The Daily Telegraph^[11] and the Evening Standard.^[12]

The American film critic and blogger Jeffrey Wells was so taken by Tyrannosaur after seeing it at the Los Angeles Film Festival that he started 'Hollywood Elsewhere's Tyrannosaur fundraising campaign' with the idea of raising $2,000 to cover the rental of a screening room for Hollywood critics, with the hope of the film gaining recognition. Wells claimed this was the first screening financed by a critic.^[13]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3.5 stars out of 4, calling Peter Mullan's performance muscular and unrelenting. He also remarked: "This isn't the kind of movie that even has hope enough to contain a message. There is no message, only the reality of these wounded personalities."^[14]

Mark Kermode of BBC Radio 5 Live hailed the film as one of the 11 Best Films of 2011.^[15] Kermode went on to award Olivia Colman Best Actress in his own Annual Kermode Awards.^[16] She tied with Tilda Swinton for We Need to Talk About Kevin.^[16]

By 18 December 2011, the film had won 21 awards from 28 nominations worldwide. The Guardian included the film in its shortlist for the First Film Award for 2012.^[17]

When the BAFTA Award nominations were announced on 17 January 2012, the omission of Olivia Colman in the Best Actress category led to global trending of both Olivia Colman and Tyrannosaur on Twitter.^[18]

• Tyrannosaur at IMDb
• Tyrannosaur at Rotten Tomatoes
• ‹The template AllMovie title is being considered for deletion.› Tyrannosaur at AllMovie