alobear | Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

I seem to be discovering a lot of small, sweet, gentle films lately - those words all sound rather patronising, but they're actually a good thing. Though perhaps Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is on a somewhat larger scale than, say, The Station Agent or Lars and The Real Girl - but at heart it's still a story of real-world relationships and finding something to believe in.

Ewan McGregor does an excellent line in appealingly awkward, and Emily Blunt handles the more difficult task of trying to negotiate feelings for two different men very well. It's all a bit Casablanca in some ways - tricky when there's nothing really wrong with either choice, but much more realistic than most presentations of such situations.

The frame of the crazy scheme of introducing salmon to the Yemen is largely irrelevant, but makes for an entertaining concept, and allows some fun to be had by Kristin Scott Thomas and the cast of peripheral characters in portraying the bureaucracy of the British government as even more ridiculous than the fishing scheme.

A very enjoyable film - but much more suited to Saturday evening, watching TV in bed than the cinematic experience, so I'm glad I never got round to seeing it when it was on general release.

And, ooh, a proper review for a change - yay!