True Things

source: True Things

Drab depressing Brit-drama "True Things" is certainly 'true', being the credible account of the understatedly downbeat life of working-class twenty/thirty-something Ruth Wilson, who struggling to get over a break-up and unispired by her blah desk job, hooks up with 'edgy' chancer Tom Burke... but is that where her happiness lies? Director / co-writer (with Molly Davies) Harry Wootcliff aims for a raw authenticity, which she achieves, but why? It's a valid character study, played out by fine actors, but without a traditional plot it's just a pretty miserable glimpse into a bleak 'true' life. Technically sound, yes, ok, but it sure ain't escapist entertainment.

Loved Ruth Wilson's portrayal of a volatile woman allowing herself to open up to and form a powerful connection to someone who seemingly you wouldn't normally put together. The film cleverly highlighted how a passionate and magical encounter triggering a lonely heart to blossom and open up to another, can quickly be destroyed by a man's simple acts of thoughtlessness and disregard for the feelings of another. And something that could have been truly amazing never comes to fruition. I think this film is a great reminder to all, to hold onto and protect the things that really matter in life. And that includes understanding what is lost when a fragile heart is broken!

Ruth Wilson gives a great and brave performance here. Stuck in an unsatisfying job and bored much of the time, it's clear that she is often drawn to dangerous behaviour and, in Tom Burke, she meets a potentially dangerous man who seems to be able to give her the excitement she wants. Despite copious warnings from her friend and colleague (Hayley Squires on good form), bosses and parents, she allows herself to be led even further from "normal life" than usual. The film's ambiguous conclusion leaves one unsure of her eventual end, but some sort of belated self-awareness seems to be stirring? Burke plays an "enigmatic" character not dissimilar from "The Souvenir" but to my view here he seems merely disinterested rather than actively malign and for me this is the much better film. Worth a look.

This movie really accomplishes a lot. On its face it's very understated - there's limited dialogue, it takes place over a short amount of time, there are very few characters, and nothing overtly life- altering happens to anyone. No big speeches, no blow-up fights, no big set pieces, no significant investments of time or money that will haunt the characters. So it's pretty impressive how many complex human experiences it touches on while you hardly even notice anything has happened. It captures why someone might stick around to see where a relationship is going, even if there are some red flags. It captures the fact that sometimes this isn't a bad thing to do. And sometimes it is. It captures how we have to extend trust to new people in our lives, and ways in which extending your trust can be sometimes rewarding and sometimes disappointing. It captures why it might seem like a near-stranger understands us better than our friends and family do. It captures the dynamic of a best friend telling us something's not good for us or not something we can handle. And the fact that sometimes the friend was wrong, but sometimes they did know what they were talking about. It grapples with extending a second chance to someone who's let you down. And it deftly shows the dance we do when a relationship starts off as sexual and then we try to see if it could be anything else. It demonstrates a very sweet lesson: that even if a relationship doesn't work out the way you hoped it might, that doesn't make it a waste of time. Someone can disappoint you but nonetheless have a big impact on your life. As someone who's wondered if I've stayed in some relationships too long, this was a welcome reminder that just because those relationships were flawed, that doesn't make me silly for having wanted to give them a try.

A sudden fling can become the only window to a better future when people are trapped by life. I saw this in the story but avobe all in Ruth Wilson's performance: she is truth itself.

I gave True Things 10 stars because of Ruth Wilson's acting and because of the excellent script. It's about a few phenomena that many women will be all too familiar with. Ruth Wilson plays Kate, a woman in her thirties who appears to suffer from not knowing what she wants out of life along with a healthy dose of depression mixed with low self-esteem and loneliness. She works as a bureaucrat behind a desk, a job gotten for her by her close holier-than-thou friend, Alison. Early in the film, a client sits down across from Kate, wanting to apply for benefits. I'm not sure that his name is ever given; he's simply referred to throughout the film as "Blond" because of his bleached hair. Blond has recently finished a jail bid and needs an income. Kate becomes infatuated with and attracted to Blond and they start having clandestine meetings for some hot sex, the kind that presumably has no strings attached. As Kate gets more addicted to sex with Blond the rest of her life falls apart bit by bit. No, there's nothing new here, but as said above, Ruth Wilson's acting brings a freshness to a personality type with emotions that can be hard to watch. One scene stands out: she hasn't seen Blond for several days and she finally gets to confront him. He's losing patience and she's losing her mind. He asks her, "Kate, what do you want from me?" In a wee, sad voice she says, "I want to be your girlfriend." He replies, "How old are you, 12?" The truth is in that moment she actually could be 12. As the film goes on and Kate's emotional stability goes right down the toilet along with her other drunken body fluids, it's again painful to watch. But the directing, too, is excellent and the film is organized in such a way as to enable sensitive viewers to not become too overwhelmed. I really don't like adding spoilers but I want to mention a scene in Spain where Kate and Blond have gone to attend Blond's sister's wedding. These scenes are interesting because of Kate and Blond's relationship: though they're supposed to be a couple, they're hardly together. What's happened is that Kate has begun to lose interest in Blond. The scene where she sees him and he's wearing preppy clothes and talks about wanting to get married and have a family is the symbolic last nail in the coffin of Kate's dwindling feelings for him. Where did her bad-boy ex-con lover go? Who's this preppy nerd who's taken his place? In the final scene Kate is in a taxi riding along a beautiful Spanish coastline with the sun shining brilliantly and the breeze blowing her hair back. With a huge smile and look on her face that says, "That's all behind me now, and I'm riding forward with Hope and Happiness, to live my future to the fullest!" We share her relief that she's been given another chance and so there's hope for us, too.

Ruth Wilson plays an isolated single woman with low self-esteem who hooks up with a 'bad boy' and that's the whole story. It plays out in slow, miserable, unsuprising ways. Plot development? Never heard of it. This a deeply uninteresting look at boring characters going nowhere. Think Mike Leigh, but without composition, character or compassion. The trouble is, Ruth Wilson is a good actress and manages to make this dishwater script seem more engaging than it really is, so well done Ruth. Tom Burke is fine, but his character suffers the same problem - he's bland, badly written (if written at all) and has all the complexity of a child's stick drawing. It's self-indulgent, patience-testing guff which leaves its actors to do all the work but, ultimately, they don't have enough work to do.

There are few films i will watch till the end, i give at least 20 minutes and if it is not absorbing me by then, off it goes and on to the next. It is not outstanding at all, it's general theme or feel is slightly disturbed, like the main character, but i was certainly intrigued to find where it would evolve to. In the end it was a little quirky, if not "deserved" ending, which did not really bring closure to the main characters "position", or State. However, i say again i was interested enough to know what may become of the main character, played by Ruth Wilson, whom i have not seen nor heard of before, but i think she is fantastic. I was inspired to write this review because of a rather bad one i saw, due to how good i KNOW she is. There are no sparks etc coming from this rather unusual film & it does have a somewhat "Depressed" feel to it, due to the main characters overall state, so not to everyone's taste, but it is certainly no less than a 5, & i give it a solid 6 for Ruth Wilson's ability alone, which inspired concern/care for her, along with being intrigued with what would ultimately become of her, and not any actor can do that. So yes, it's a sort of downbeat study of an unhappy, unloved young woman, but certainly well acted, which puts it well above much of what appears these days masquerading as "Movies". This IS at least a well acted Movie, downbeat, yes, not to everyone's taste, but a Real movie none the less. Hope to see more of her in future, certainly she deserves such, which no doubt film MAKERS will realize after seeing her here.

This film probably won't change the world. It doesn't contain life-altering wisdom or beautiful moments of insight. It is a very restrained, very subtle piece, essentially a two-handed stage play, with a pair of talented actors delivering understated performances. This is a double-edged sword. The down-to-earth realism means that the story drifts quietly along, as do the characters, before just kind of ending. This allows for some real moments of introspection, pause, and stillness (true things, one might say), but unfortunately it does leave a slightly pedestrian and forgettable impression. But maybe that isn't a bad thing for these types of films? I'd be interested to come back in a few years and see whether the impression has changed at all.