# Among Giants (1998)

### reviewed by
Harvey S. Karten

    AMONG GIANTS

     Reviewed by Harvey Karten, Ph.D.
     Fox Searchlight Pictures
     Director:  Sam Miller
     Writer:  Simon Beaufoy
     Cast: Pete Postlewaite, Rachel Griffiths, James Thornton

Eight years ago I was waiting on line to see "Indecent Proposal" when I overheard a guy about 24 years old earnestly ask his date of about 21, "Would you sleep with Robert Redford for a million dollars?" "Sure," the sweet young thing replied, "But you'll have to give me some time to scrape up the money." Oh, you heard that one? The idea that a woman like Demi Moore could be attracted to an actor who at the time was 55 years old is absolutely believable. But could a 24-year-old get turned on by the 53-year-old Pete Postlethwaite? As they say, love is blind, but there's a limit. That a woman played by the youthful Rachel Griffiths could go for Postlethwaite--however wonderful an actor--is as credible as the idea that Tara Fitzgerald would ignore Ewan McGregor and set her sights on the craggy ol' guy in "Brassed Off."

That's why the producers of "Among Giants" call their movie an offbeat romance, I suppose. It's not really meant to be as plausible and everyday as Robin Wright's discovering Kevin Costner's message in a bottle. If you accept the story as caprice--as though Postlethwaite were having a midsummer night's wet dream--you could go with the generally bleak and gritty but sometimes touching story of a crew of working stiffs painting electricity pylons in England's Derbyshire Peak District.

Directed by Sam Miller, who is known on the sceptered isle for his work at the helm of the TV series "This Life, "Among Giants" shares with that program's emptiness but breaks with its glittering and slick image. Quite unlike screenwriter Simon Beaufoy's "The Full Monty," this movie's comic touches seem forced, its working-class men laughing by compulsion if at all--as they go through the motions of a no- future existence as freelance painters working off the books one hundred feet up, taking pride, perhaps, in the danger attached to the work.

Crew foreman Ray (Pete Postlethwaite) accepts a freelance job under the table from a suit with the provision that the painting of electricity pylons must be completed within three months, before the juice is turned on. With his rock-climbing chum Steve (James Thornton) he assembles a team of rugged Yorkshire types who then give a lift to an Australian backpacker, Gerry (Rachel Griffiths)--who is hired on the spot by the smitten Ray. The couple seem mismatched by age and appearance. The obvious choice for Gerry would be the young and handsome Don Juan, Steve (James Thornton). As Ray and Gerry make goo-goo eyes at each other one hundred feet up, they arouse the antipathy of the envious Steve, the demoralized workers, and finally Ray's estranged wife. When Ray and Gerry have a falling out, Gerry momentarily shifts her attention to Steve, causing increased friction between Ray and his best friend. The plot takes an unusual turn when the frustrated Gerry commits the self-destructive act of climbing the rocks without a belt.

The most interesting character is Gerry, who is not your typical Maupintour traveler. Off on her own from Australia to the English hills, she fearlessly hitches rides around Derbyshire and beyond, admitting to occasional loneliness-- which could explain her bonding with the much older foreman. When Ray, who finds it as difficult as the audience to accept the love that is offered to him, asks her why she doesn't go for young Steve, she replies, "He's not my type. Maybe he's too much my type. I've had loads of Steves; it never works out."

Nor does the movie. Though we get a sense of working- class life among a diverse, adventurous bunch of sentimental Brits--the Saturday night dance scene a la American West; the downing of endless ales in the local pub; the camaraderie that comes from togetherness in the wide open spaces-- nothing really happens to the workers, who seem to exist only to observe and comment upon the romantic interludes of the three principals. The film follows working-class formulas: workers disgruntled because of overdue paychecks, one laborer needing an advance because he's one step ahead of the loansharks, a woman seeking her identity through travel. Postlethwaite had far far more to work with in his greatest piece, "In the Name of the Father," and was more realistically cast as a band leader in "Brassed Off," while Rachel Griffiths was astonishing in "Hilary & Jackie," merely functional in the current selection.

    Not Rated.  Running Time: 94 minutes.  (C) 1999
    Harvey Karten

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