I did consider writing this review in just five words, but felt I should try a bit harder.
Julie (Honor Swinton Byrne) is studying film making at art college in southern England in the 80s, and wants to make a feature about the life of a teenager in a poor part of Sunderland, a subject that's clearly far removed from her own experience of life. She hooks up with Anthony (Tom Burke), a pompous prick from the Foreign Office who turns out to be something even worse. Will Julie survive the experience, and what will it do the relationship with her mother Rosalind (Tilda Swinton) who suspects there are problems before Julie herself is able to admit to them?
It's hard to care. You can't fault the acting, but the slow pace and far too many shots of nothing whatsoever happening makes it hard to have any sympathy for the characters. "I always use the wrong fork on purpose" is meant to be funny, but makes Julie sound like a spoiled brat. There's a cameo appearance by Richard Ayoade that briefly sparks the viewer's interest, but hopes that he might reappear were in vain.
The movie is getting great crits from many quarters, presumably from people who have a far higher boredom threshold than I can lay claim to. I still stand by those five words - tedious English middle class wank.
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