80
Film Threat
A rich drama that gradually evolves into a feel-good story.
On a Clear Day
Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
- United Kingdom
- 2005
- · 98m
Director
Gaby Dellal
Cast
Peter Mullan,
Brenda Blethyn,
Sean McGinley,
Jamie Sives,
Billy Boyd,
Ron Cook
Genre
Drama
After decades of shipbuilding in Glasgow, Frank Redmond, a 55-year-old working-class man, suddenly finds himself laid off. For the first time in his life, he is without a job or a sense of direction, and he's too proud to ask for guidance. Determined to restore his self-confidence, Frank attempts the near impossible — swimming the English Channel.
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What are critics saying?
80
The Hollywood Reporter by Ray Bennett
The kind of drama that British television used to do so well, a well-constructed, smartly observed story of ordinary people learning how to communicate with one another.
80
Film Threat by Peter Hanson
A rich drama that gradually evolves into a feel-good story.
75
TV Guide Magazine by Maitland McDonagh
Dellal and their cast consistently hit the right notes, and the result is an uplifting tale that you don't have to be embarrassed to enjoy.
75
Portland Oregonian by M. E. Russell
Mullan makes the journey more than worthwhile, but don't go in expecting profundity.
75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer by Paula Nechak
Mullan is a great choice as Frank, playing the silent guy with all kinds of baggage perfectly.
70
Wall Street Journal by Joe Morgenstern
When a feelgood formula is fleshed out artfully, going along with it can feel very good indeed.
70
The New York Times
Despite a familiar crop of lovable eccentrics and a predictably inspirational thrust, the movie resists formula just enough to achieve a surprising degree of emotional traction.
70
Variety by Joe Leydon
By turns whimsically humorous and intelligently sentimental, but also infused with a pungent air of working-class realism.
70
Chicago Reader by Andrea Gronvall
Humorous touches add warmth without being cloying, but Mullan carries the film with his intelligence and rugged intensity: images of his barrel-chested physique against the craggy shore resound on such an elemental level as to be almost spiritual.
70
Los Angeles Times by Carina Chocano
Sweet-natured, if somewhat familiar, On a Clear Day features fine performances by Mullan, Blethyn and Sives. Dellal and cinematographer David Johnson paint an inviting picture of Glasgow.
70
The New York Times by Jeannette Catsoulis
Despite a familiar crop of lovable eccentrics and a predictably inspirational thrust, the movie resists formula just enough to achieve a surprising degree of emotional traction.
67
The A.V. Club by Scott Tobias
Against all reason, this workingman's journey across the sea winds up seeming every bit as inspirational as the filmmakers intended, entirely because Mullan's grit validates every cornpone emotion. With a lesser actor, the movie would sink like a stone.
58
Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
Scottish actor Peter Mullan saves a drama tangled in the seaweed of life lessons from drowning in pathos.
50
L.A. Weekly by Ella Taylor
On a Clear Day is in most respects "The Full Monty," only with swimming, not stripping, and no bursts into song or dance - only the usual canny sequencing of tears and laughter, interspersed here with fetching underwater photography and father-son issues up the wazoo.
50
Village Voice by Michael Atkinson
Gaby Dellal's cynically mushy film, like "The Full Monty" and its ilk, is best savored only by its target demo: middle-classers who see one imported film a year, the selection in question requiring working-stiff melodrama and leprechaun burrs gently and lovably mangling the English dialogue.
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