Written and Directed by Paddy Considine who is known more as a writer for films such as Dead Men’s Shoes and Dog Altogether, Tyrannosaur is a film about a very odd ‘relationship’ between a brut and bruising man named Joseph (played gloriously by Peter Mullan who ironically does nothing but age unrealistically well and play just beneath the surface though much of film), and his make shift friend Hannah (Olivia Colman). Hannah is a lonely wilting wife to a bastard husband who drinks and pees on her whilst she sleeps. Joseph is the righteous, atheist drunk who casually meets and talks to her. The storyline is not terribly innovative, it comes across as a recycled old idea but holds very well on screen mostly due to Considine’s directorial grace and the vulnerability of his characters.

Considine in this film unlike many other directors avoids creating characters that are simplistic and nothing more than broad social brushstrokes about English social decline. He is a director that has focused on the double sided nature of his subjects.

Joseph the violent alcoholic who is surprisingly friendly to Hannah whilst she herself the poster girl for a good middle aged wife is somehow sexually withdrawn and prone to lashing out. Cinematically this is a portrait of life lived in contradiction and is a film with palpable conviction.

As a director Considine uses the various elements at his disposal, particularly Erik Wilson’s cinematography to create film that is mostly tonal. But in terms of quality of narrative the film in some areas comes across as rather flat but this does not in any way drag down the arch of the story. Particularly because it would seem that Considine is a director that is less interested in an entertaining film and is much more concerned with a realistic one and let’s face it real people’s lives are not that interesting, which is what makes this film arrestingly significant.
 

Tyrannosaur is also very rich in its employment of the metaphorical as it juxtaposes both Joseph and Hannah in relation to the social landscape that they find themselves tasked with living in. The depleted and clearly weekend vs the established and well to do classes. What Considine is saying in Tyrannosaur is that the real trouble and really dangerous people in contemporary British society are not the gritty despised lower classes but its rather people of a middle class ilk whose shocking agendas, secret lives and ultimately drastic actions are what is really ripping apart British society and its established norms as we know them.

Perhaps the best scene in this film is when a vengeful Joseph decides to take action against the neighborhood pitbull after it eats away at the face of a young boy in the neighborhood. He hacks the dog to death leaving the pieces for the dog’s owner and keeping its head as a trophy.

As he sits on an old couch outside his home, with the heard of the butchered dog’s corpse bleeding from his lap, he is a graceful image. Its moments like this that are quite surprising in this film because Considine avoids the traditional over-dramatisation of scenes like this rather opting for a delicate and more softened treatment of even the most brutal sequences. This all plays as precursor for a conclusion that brings the film to a soft landing.

Here’s one for the aphorists; a new religion ‘preached on a philosophy of non-prechiness.’ Its sounds refreshing, even though divulging into the origins of this sentiment may raise a disapproving eyebrow on right while leaving the leftfield in hysterics.

The religion is known as ‘Dudeism,’ a reference to the celebrated film The Big Lebowski that was produced by the Coen Brothers in 1998. I was initially sceptical about the idealisation of a rusty, idle hippy incarnated by Jeff Bridges and it’s relevance to religion, but further insight would reveal the merits of the ‘Dude.’

The easy-going and worry free character of the ‘Dude’ is asked to inspire people to do the same, and free themselves from the chaos and anxious environment we have cultivated. Rather than success being measured by money and materialism, the soul should be satisfied. This inner peace and happiness cannot be achieved under the stresses of the relentless capitalist master. So the ‘Dude’ aptly suggests, ‘as Lenin said, look for the person who will benefit.’

Oliver Benjamin or the ‘Dudely Lama,’ spent ten years backpacking the whimsical treasures of the East where he studied a variety of religions and philosophies along the way.  The Church of the Latter-day Dude (yes, that is for real) is located in Chiang Mai, a bustling city in the tropics of Thailand. It was conceived during a screening of the film in the same city, which Benjamin describes as being an illuminating, surreal experience.

‘Dudeism’ is the marriage of a pop culture phenomenon and ancient teachings based on the Eastern philosophies of Lao Tzu’s Tao and Epicurus. The tripod of influence supports the notion of a society free from imposed ‘norms’ and pressures.

Benjamin still dreams of a world in which robots replace human labour so that we can be left to the living and experiencing part. This hedonistic   ethos may come to contradict, even offend people and other great philosophers who believe in the concept of hard work and reward.  However, Benjamin ensures that the ‘Dude’ is an extreme case and free time should not be spent on plunder but rather personal growth and gaining inner peace.

A plethora of different religions exit today, each with its own rulebook to govern every crevice of life. Traditional religion is something to be respected but not imposed. Everyone should decide what influences the feel connected to when living their lives, for instance who they choose to love; and when they wake up on a yellow Sunday, it shouldn’t be a sin for wanting to wear shorts.

In an age of libertarianism the longhaired, robe-esq attire of the ‘Dude’ suggests a kind of new-age Jesus. The resemblance is uncanny. Interestingly, Benjamin has always wanted to start a religion- I’m sure no one guessed that The Big Lebowski could be potentially their new source of divine authority. I can see the Coen Brother’s smiling now.

WORDS: MEGAN KING