Burns Night (née Christmas) screening with special guest, actor Bill Paterson
“This gentle comedy, set in the midst of Glasgow’s ice cream wars, still resonates with its superbly observed characters.”
Before the Omicron situation made us suspend TPFC at the end of last year, we had been looking forward to welcoming actor Bill Paterson to our special Christmas screening of Comfort and Joy. Well, it’s a month later and we’re delighted to welcome Bill Paterson to our special Burns Night screening of Comfort and Joy (see what we did there?). As with all our post-lockdown films seating is limited and must be reserved in advance.
The end of the year can be a confusing time of reflection for those who feel they don’t have anything to celebrate. That feeling is captured beautifully in Bill Forsyth’s tale of a Glasgow DJ (Bill Paterson), who finds himself unexpectedly alone when he’s dumped by his girlfriend shortly before Christmas.
Adrift, he finds himself drawn into a turf war between two rival ice-cream vendors, a conflict that might offer him a chance to start over, or might drive him to the brink of madness.
Paterson beautifully depicts a man who’s quietly, and sometimes not so quietly, experiencing a nervous breakdown as the world around him grows stranger and more absurd. That it all somehow builds toward a hilarious moment of reconciliation is just one of many little miracles in a Christmas movie that takes a roundabout way to celebrating the season’s possibilities of renewal and rebirth, but still gets there all the same.
The excellent supporting cast includes Claire Grogan and Patrick Malahide.
