Marvellous
Dir: Julian Farino
2014
*****
Marvellous sums up this film perfectly. Every country has its unsung heroes, the little people that make life colourful. In England, many of these people are eccentric, modest, peculiar, everything in-between and all the better for it. Neil Baldwin is that kind of hero. He's one of those people that can do anything because no one ever told him that he couldn't, or maybe because everyone told him he couldn't, either way he achieved a lot thanks to all the wonderful little things that make him him. I'm a huge Toby Jones fan so it was great to see him in such a great role and of course doing it justice. Julian Farino is a director I've liked since he made a great little unseen gem in 1999 called The Last Yellow. A great story, a great performance and a great director makes this film fan a very happy chap. It's brilliant.

The Oranges
Dir: Julian Farino
2012
**
In 1998 Julian Farino made a film called The Last Yellow. I loved it and told everyone I knew to go see it. The press hated it however and I've been waiting for him to make another film ever since. Finally, in 2012 he makes The Oranges. This time I dislike it and the press think it's great. What do I know? Honestly though, I'll try to put the fact that I was anticipating this film for 14 years to one side and make a fair judgement. It's got a great cast and I really wanted to like it but after a good start it soon went into corny, cliched and cringe-worthy territory. It pretended to be 'right on', quirky and different but failed miserably. I didn't like it. Everything I didn't want to happen, happened.