PETER MULLAN is a true renaissance figure. He has written and directed films that are admired around the world. He uses his celebrity to highlight social injustice and he is also one of Scotland’s finest actors.

In ‘On A Clear Day’ he has one of his best roles since ‘My Name Is Joe’, playing a man desperately seeking to salvage his self-esteem after he is made redundant. ‘On A Clear Day’ has earned comparisons with ‘The Full Monty’ but it is a modest, more thoughtful drama than the stripping steelworkers provided.

Mullan’s Frank has spent all his life working in a Glasgow shipyard. When he is made redundant, it feels like a death sentence. His wife Joan (Brenda Blethyn) is drifting away from him, secretly learning to become a bus driver and find a sense of her own independence.

He barely communicates with his son Rob (Jamie Sives) and has never come to terms with the grief he harbours over the loss of Rob’s older brother in a tragic accident.

The only thing that sustains him is the support of a close group of friends and former workmates. The men regularly go swimming together and this is what inspires Frank to set himself the ultimate challenge of swimming the English channel.

Told with gentle humour and compassion, ‘On A Clear Day’ is a moving celebration of one man’s refusal to succumb to despair. It is strongly cast and performed throughout, but it is Mullan who dominates the film. His granite-like presence and steely physical determination cut through the sentimentality like a sharp knife and help to make a simple human story all the more moving.

General release, selected cinemas
Director: Gaby Dellal
Stars: Peter Mullan, Brenda Blethyn, Jamie Sives, Billy Boyd, Sean McGinley
Screenwriter: Alex Rose
Certificate: 12A
Running time: 98 mins
Country: UK
Year: 2004

© Allan Hunter, 2005