Brassed Off (1996)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Danny	Pete Postlethwaite
Gloria	Tara Fitzgerald
Andy	Ewan McGregor
Harry	Jim Carter	-
Greasley	Kenneth Colley	-
Simmo	Peter Gunn	-
Ida	Mary Healey	-
Sandra	Melanie Hill	-

Review

Pete Postlethwaite's face may not be among the most glamorous, but it certainly is among the more expressive these days. After his Oscar nomination for In the Name of the Father (1993), he did a fine turn in The Usual Suspects (1995) before delivering a brilliant performance in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (1996). Now he's back with Brassed Off, a British comedy in which Postlethwaite plays the conductor for a brass band – which he does so convincingly that you walk out certain that he's been a band leader all his life. The setting is a mining company in the small town of Brimley, and the people working there are a motley crew of characters. What they have in common is their affiliation with said band, which gives these people and Postlethwaite particularly a little meaning in an otherwise dreary existence. When his son says "There's more to life than music", Postlethwaite quips "Not to me, there isn't". Brassed Off is a wonderful celebration of music and its uplifting, atoning influence on people from all walks of life. Moving human drama and well-formulated albeit not exactly hard-hitting social criticism go hand in hand in this intelligent and often amusing comedy written and directed by Mark Herman. Tara Fitzgerald and the up-and-coming Ewan McGregor make a cute couple in supporting roles.