Locke

This is different, in a good way. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall when it was pitched: "It's about a man driving his car and talking to people on the phone" ... "Huh? Then what?" ... "Nothing. That's it. A man in a car."

Very brave. There's no hiding for Tom Hardy as Ivan Locke, since he's the only character you see ... and you see him for the whole 85 minutes. And whilst this might have made a good radio play, the visuals you do get are totally compelling. Hardy is simply outstanding.

SPOILERS

The film starts with Ivan Locke getting into his BMW at a building site. Presumably he's heading home but when he has to stop at a traffic light he at first seems to fall asleep briefly, then when woken by a truck honking he seems to see something in his rear-view mirror and decides to turn right instead of left.

As Ivan drives we find out what is going on via a series of phone calls; and the odd monologue directed at Ivan's dead father who he seems to be imagining as a back-seat passenger.

Firstly we learn that Ivan is due to oversee a huge concrete pour early the next morning. His deputy Donal goes ballistic when Ivan calls to tell him that he won't be there and Donal is going to have to take charge. Andrew Scott is great as the skittish assistant - sometimes calm and showing initiative and other times almost completely losing it. Who would have thought that men talking about the ins and outs of a concrete pour could be so interesting?

Gradually we discover where Ivan is going. The plot is so cleverly constructed. He could have lied to everyone and made something up, but he is so inscrutably honest that he has to tell the truth. That sounds like it might be hard to believe, but the way it is played is totally believable.

At one point Ivan's boss Gareth says "Why didn't you just say you were ill?" and Ivan replies "Because I'm not ill."

There are some little nuggets worth looking out for. As Ivan calls people and they call him, you see the names and phone numbers coming up on his console. For most people it is their actual name, but I noticed that instead of "Gareth" it has "Bastard". Which suggests Ivan has had some issues with him in the past that aren't otherwise mentioned.

I think the film has a lot to say about modern life. Ivan Locke is a man who "has it all" in a modest way. He's successful in his career, he's respected and people like him. He has a wife and two sons who all love him. He appears on the surface to be unable to do anything wrong.

And yet he has made a mistake. One mistake.

Locke believes so firmly that anything can be put right, that he decides to do the right thing and sees that decision through to the end. He's clearly driven by the failure of his own father to do right by him when he was a child.

But the consequences are severe. Both his employer and his wife are totally unforgiving. Interesting that he works for an American company that immediately fires him for leaving the site in Donal's hands. I'm sure there are plenty of other companies that might have done the same, but American companies are singled out as the most soulless. His wife Katrina, voiced by the lovely Ruth Wilson, is both slow to grasp that he has made another woman pregnant, and then quick to kick him out of her life without any second chance.

You get the impression that Ivan was too good for them. His boss says he put in a good word for him, but probably jumped at the chance to force him out. Who knows what marital problems Ivan and Katrina had, but she accuses him of always loving his buildings more than her.

There's a fairly small role for the fabulous Olivia Colman, but as you'd expect she makes Bethan as real as can be. A lonely, scared woman who would like Ivan to love her, even though he hardly even knows her.

Probably the most surprising film I have ever seen... because it is just a man in a car... but such a well played story. Brilliant.