Undoubtedly a contender for the best Scottish film of 2015 is Robert Carlyle’s The Legend Of Barney Thomson. Scots Whay Hae! said as much when it was released, and you can read the full review along with the review of the book it was adapted from here.
But don’t just take our word for it, the good people of BAFTA agreed, rewarding the film two awards at Sunday night’ BAFTA Scotland Awards Ceremony, including the much coveted ‘Feature Film’ Award, as well as ‘Film Actress’ for Emma Thompson who is almost unrecognisable in her unforgettable role as 77-year-old foul-mouthed
pensioner, Cemolina.
The awards celebrate the very best in Scottish Film, Television and Games produced over the last year and The Legend of Barney Thomson proved to be one of the biggest winners of the evening, winning two of the four categories, in which it was nominated.
The directorial debut of Robert Carlyle, who also takes the title role, the film beat stiff competition from 16 Years Till Summer as well as What We Did On Our Holiday to win Best Feature Film. Emma Thompson, was up against Elizabeth McGovern (Downton Abbey) and Elena Anaya (The Skin I Live In) to deservedly take the prize of Film Actress.
In a moment of extreme serendipity, or perhaps as a result of some very sharp marketing by ICON film, the DVD was released on Monday and is now available from all the usual places, but you can win one of your very own, as well as copy of Douglas Lindsay’s original novel which is published by Freight Books.
Just answer the following question, writing your answers in the comments of this post, on Twitter, or on our Facebook page.
Q: What was the name of Emma Thompson’s character in John Byrne’s Tutti Frutti?
The competition will run until 12 noon next Monday (23/11/15) and then we’ll put all the winning names in the Scots Whay Hae! competition bunnet and pick a winner. Good luck!
In the meantime, here’s a taste of what we thought, “If you like your film comedy black then you should see The Legend Of Barney Thomson as it is a memorable addition to the genre, and a huge improvement to the similar The Voices which came out earlier this year. If you’re a fan of pulp horror fiction, then you should read the book as it’s been a while since I’ve read one which revels in its horrific subject matter with such glee. Or you could do what I did and do both.”
Here’s what others have said, followed by the trailer:
“Brilliantly Twisted” SUNDAY HERALD
“Deliciously macabre comedy” **** TELEGRAPH
“a wee stoater of a film” **** THE TIMES