Grow Your Own Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES PLOT SUMMARY
An English community gets testy when a refuge family is granted a plot of land on which to grow vegetables.
| William Atkinson | Immigration Officer |
| Omid Djalili | |
| John Henshaw | Charlie |
| Philip Jackson | Big John |
| Roland Manookian | |
| Eddie Marsan | |
| Victor Power | Desmond |
| Pearce Quigley | |
| Mel Raido | |
| Alan Williams | |
| Benedict Wong | |
| Nathalie Armin | Soraya |
| Olivia Colman | |
| Sarah Hadland | |
| Joanna Scanlan | Barbara |
| Richard Laxton |
6.60 out of 10 (72 votes)
Visitor Reviews
An entertaining couple of hours
posted on 13 Feb 2009I watched the DVD of this, basically because that's how i watch movies. I wondered at the start if I had made a mistake and was going to rue the decision to buy it, but no, things livened up a bit, the comedy was subtle and the acting was stock UK standard - sometimes too good for its own good, many viewers missing the sublety. I think today we are so saturated with 'blockbuster' and 'drama' that when we see characters who seem to be not acting, we just think that they're doing badly. I've done that myself. However, although I think that Philip Jackson, who is one of my favourites, was a predictable casting, the situation was ultimately sorted in the typical British no-fuss method of side-stepping the unpleasantness and dealing to him. I liked it, no apologies for that. I'll probably watch it again.
I think this is a sweet and original film.
posted on 22 Oct 2008I recently saw this movie and thought it was charming and funny. The comedy was subtle in places, laugh-out-loud in others, but always well-placed. I would disagree with the notion that some of the characters are superfluous or under- developed... I thought they were subtle, well-played and a great collection of people. I didn't find it hard to imagine them digging away somewhere on an allotment!I do agree with the comment about Benedict Wong, this was a great performance, I also really liked Eddie Marsan and Philip Jackson's characters. As for the name, I rather like "Grow Your Own" as a title!
Glorious
posted on 24 Sep 2008Wow! A genuinely funny and moving film that lingered in my head for days. Probably the most unsexy list of ingredients to make a movie from - gardening, immigration, telephone masts - but it links all these plots with an amazing cast of characters who it is impossible not to care for. It's a bit like Little Miss Sunshine - why should a road movie about a dysfunctional family on their way to a beauty pageant work? - because you care about every single one of them and the same thing happens here. Rather than laying the politics of immigration on with a trowel the writing and directing insinuate it throughout the stories. A great piece of British Indie Cinema - It left me with that feeling you get after an impromptu warm summer evening sitting outside the pub.
Not bad
posted on 29 Aug 2008I recently saw the movie at the cast and crew screening. For a start, its an average movie thats more like a television movie rather than a film made for the cinema. I felt the film lacked any cinematic quality sadly as do most British films. The acting was okay in places, Benidict Wongs performance was a good and safe performance holding the film together. I thought some of the accents done by the actors were woeful and laboured as were a lot of the performances. Its a shame to see some of our well known TV actors struggling to deliver a performance worthy of a movie, most of the time the actors were over acting and finding little connection with the piece. Phillip Jackson, Eddie Marsan and Joanna Scanlan all give a good account of themselves as well as a great performance by SARAH HADLAND and her assistant played by ROLAND MANOOKIAN who only feature in the movie briefly. Sadly i believe its another British film that will struggle at the box office, due to a lackluster cast, and mediocre direction.
entertaining if familiar
posted on 11 May 2008This was a nice Little film, Nice is probably the crucial word because it did suffer from the British film comedy pitfall of using stock characters while tying everything up too "nicely" at the end. The Eddie Marsan / Olivia Coleman romance storyline must have seemed like well trodden paths through their allotted stories and they pulled off trademark, lovable loser, performances that I am sure would come across as heart-warming if we hadn't seen them many times before. And there were a few other comedy stalwarts playing within similar well ploughed furrows.That said, there was much to commend the film - the characters were familiar but you felt a warmth for all (of whom you were intended to) and the script although a little threadbare in places had some great moments too; the Grumpy old Rebel and the Chinese family were extremely well written and played. The cinematography was much better than some comments have implied too - there is one shot of darkened clouds over the allotments and a couple of other night-time views that were pretty impressive.Its a story about a set of allotments and the changing ethnic shape of working class society and as such it is well meaning and entertaining .. yes we have seen much of it before .. yes there have been better Brit films and if you want a hard-biting film about the state of British society or the evils of racism in Britain today, there is a lot better out there but....I sat in a showing (late admittedly) in a major British City, in that Cities main Cinema, on a Saturday night, on only the second night after the films release, i was the ONLY viewer!! I hope that is not an indication of the films fate because it deserves better than that
Strands of Wonder
posted on 22 Mar 2008I saw a preview of this and absolutely loved it. It was very funny (the scene where the cranky old men test out the ring tones for instance is a classic) and touching. I loved the fact that it had none of the usual faces that you see in Britcoms. I didn't recognise anyone in it apart from Benny Wong - who was amazing in this - and the very funny girl from Hot Fuzz, who was just as funny in this. I love the fact that it keeps about ten different stories rolling along. I also loved all the gardening stuff. It reminded me of The Secret Garden and it gave the whole thing a bit of poetry and beauty that you just don't see in films about working class people normally.
Promising... but ultimately fails
posted on 27 Feb 2008I was thrilled by the fresh (pun intended) synopsis of this film and looking forward to watch it. The first few shots introduce some of the characters as well as the main location where the stories take place; the gardening allotments. The movie looks fantastic. Colorful yet simple. Magical yet genuine. Unfortunately, it only takes a few minutes to figure out where the movie will go. We quickly figure out this will be a manipulative, sappy tale illustrating a bunch of jaded people set in their ways confronted by "nice victimized" refugees and that it will have a happy ending where the jaded people realize the error of their ways and accept these people. The characters, particularly the prejudiced ones, are very "comic-booky" in nature. The story focuses mainly on two refugee families. One of them is headed by a single mom played atrociously by Diveen Henry. I am saddened to say that any emotion that might have been felt toward her struggles were defused by what was memorably bad acting.The other story is much more interesting and focuses on a father and his two children. All are scarred by their journey to this country by way of containers, where the wife and mother died but it is the husband who suffers the most. Benedict Wong gives a mind-blowing performance here. At first, his emotions are very subdued but as the story develops, he subtly makes us aware of the inner-struggles of his character. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie is just extremely boring. There were so many possibilities with this movie. There are several characters to keep track of, many of which might have potential but none of it is realized. Even worse, despite this movie being very much not Hollywoodian, some of the main plot threads are solved cheaply in a Hollywood b-grade way. Example:Character A likes character B Character B rejects his advances No problem! Let's have character C declare her love for character A so we can all have a happy ending. Yawn. I liked very much the plot thread of the Asian family. That was well done. Unfortunately, the whole allotment business, the communal aspect of it, the dynamic involving a large cast are all under exploited.What you're left with is a movie that has very little worth.
Give it a go. You might like it.
posted on 25 Dec 2007While it's not exactly a film that is going to set the world on fire with it's originality, "Grow Your Own" is a perfectly OK drama/comedy. (Note, it is a drama/comedy rather than a comedy/drama. There is a difference.)The trailer would have you believe that "Grow Your Own" is a film concerned with British eccentrics, stuck in their ways, perturbed by the influence of foreigners on the little piece of England they call the Allotment. Er... Actually that is exactly what it is about (clichés ahoy!), but it is the sometimes very tragic human stories behind the clichés that make "Grow Your Own" interesting enough.The cast is made up of the same faces that are always turning up in British films. (Philip Jackson, Eddie Marsan, John Henshaw, Olivia Colman, Omid Djalili, et al.) All of them perfectly, and probably obviously, cast.Not world breaking, but a perfectly amiable film for a quiet afternoon at the cinema. Yes, it is another, I'm assuming, lottery funded British movie of no interest to anybody outside of the British Isles, but give it a go. You might like it.
Missing the Point
posted on 05 Dec 2007I deeply suspect that 'tfitoby' is missing the point of what I found to be an extraordinarily sensitive and subtle piece of social comment. The point is HOPE and the vehicle is COLOUR. From the social to the physical, Richard Laxton peppers his film with the symbolism of diversity and change. From the stark, colourless winter emerges the blooming promise of spring, (using mirrored panning shots at either end of the film: Katherine Mansfield's time-honoured narrative tools in celluloid). From inconspicuous attire, evolves the vibrant 'panache' of Hawaiian shirts. The dichotomy of confinement is also explored (a space normally connected with travel, trade and promise presents itself as a physical and mental incarceration, whilst the physically enclosed space of the allotments represents freedom, social and cultural responsibility and diversity - not to mention what the intrusive nature of the communications industry). These are not humorous issues, but I feel that genuine and warming comedy helps to highlight, implicitly and explicitly in this film, the myriad of social problems – and joys - we face today. I suggest very strongly that 'tfitoby' takes another look - perhaps he could watch it on one of the BBC's prime viewing slots, say, on a Sunday evening?
poor movie with some laugh out loud jokes
posted on 20 Jul 2007I went to a screening of this recently and found myself horrified at yet another British movie that lacked substance. The idea was good and relevant in today's multi-cultural society but the finished article lacked direction. And script.Dealing with bigots of middle England in a comedic context completely detracts from the overall message. In fact there is no message except that the film makers wanted to take neither viewpoint and sit on the fence on the immigration issue.I would also say that it was over simplified and there's a scene that spells out in exact detail what the main character has been through prior to the start of the movie, details that had been clearly hinted at before and were not needed in any way.There are many characters that are superfluous and under-developed. The opening is slow, the ending is unsatisfactory and hurried and the music far too dramatic for the content, giving the effect of driving the narrative to cover for the bad script/directing.Having said all this there are some funny moments and Benedict Wong gives a superb performance. But would you really go and see a movie called The Allotment? Wait for the BBC to show it after songs of praise as they've wasted countless amounts of license payers money on this that they'll have to show it eventually.I see they've seen sense and changed the name. It was inevitable but is 'Grow Your Own' any better?
Entertaining and moving
posted on 04 May 2009I saw Grow Your Own at a test screening and while it's not edgy indie fare, it was properly funny. The audience laughed loud and frequently, it was well crafted and overall I thought the film delivered. It felt to me like one of the better Ealing Comedies, focusing as it does on an insular community of allotment growers being forced to accommodate unexpected change from outsiders, in this case traumatised refugees. The cast included familiar comic types like Olivia Coleman and Omid Djalili (both excellent) and Benedict Wong (Sunshine) is riveting as an emotionally scared asylum seeker with a horrifying story to tell. Some story lines were better than others but where the film worked brilliantly was showing how loneliness, trauma and thoughtless behaviour are balanced by kind words and community spirit without resorting to sentimentalism or unrealistic plot twists. Really entertaining.