Chuck Chuck Baby
Janis Pugh’s feature directorial debut proves to be a Welsh romance that is also a musical in its own right.
Image courtesy of Studio Soho Distribution
If only the last third had maintained the quality of what precedes it, this would have been a very good film indeed and, even as it is, it counts as the most strikingly original British musical since Rufus Norris directed the screen version of London Road in 2015. Chuck Chuck Baby is set in North Wales and marks the feature debut of its writer/director Janis Pugh. Her film is not quite as daring as London Road which started out as a stage piece about the real-life serial killings of prostitutes in Ipswich. Its screen version kept to the novel concept of using authentic recorded words but then having many of them sung to music specially composed. Pugh’s work is less extreme than that but riskily blends a story of working-class life portrayed in realistic terms with a frequent and highly unusual use of songs that certainly makes one think of her film as a musical.
The central character here is Helen (Louise Brealey) whose life is hardly a happy one. Gary (Celyn Jones) is still her husband but he has brought his much younger girlfriend Amy (Emily Fairn) together with their baby into the home. Indeed, Helen has been relegated to a room which would have been used for their child had she managed to conceive. One senses that Helen has only remained in the house because her mother-in-law, Gwen (Sorcha Cusack), also lives there and the bond between them has become so deep that Helen has long regarded her as almost her own mother. As for her working life, Helen is one of many locals employed in a chicken processing plant, a daily routine for her where she at least has the company of friends including Paula (Beverly Rudd). This is the kind of material that would not be out of place in a Ken Loach film although in this instance the main theme that develops is centred on the return to this locality of Joanne (Annabel Scholey). She is there to clear up the property next door to Helen's, a house which had belonged to her late father, an extremely unpleasant man. The question is whether or not the visit will lead to Helen and Joanne acting at long last on the secret repressed love that they had felt for each other as 15-year-olds some twenty years earlier.
The narrative may be relatively slight for a full feature film but Brealey and Scholey give excellent performances that make the viewer warm to their characters and wish them well. Nor should anyone underestimate the contribution of Sacha Cusack. Her character, Gwen, is dying of cancer but she refuses to play that up and chooses instead to bring out Gwen’s spirited concern for Helen as she seeks to steer her into acting on her feelings for Joanne. The other supporting players are good too with Beverly Rudd adding a welcome energy through her portrayal of the lively Paula, a character to whom gay audiences in particular are likely to warm.
These are great assets but the most remarkable achievement is the way in which for most of the time Pugh successfully integrates the musical numbers. What we have here is a series of established songs heard on records or through car radios or via a ghetto blaster and these have been chosen so as to relate to the emotional aspect of the scenes in which we hear them. Once they begin the characters soon start to join in, half-speaking, half-singing, as the songs become a way for them to express their own highs and lows. Among the songs best used in this way are Neil Diamond’s ‘I Am I Said’ and ‘Goin’ Out of My Head’ by Little Anthony and the Imperials.
For at least two thirds of its length, Chuck Chuck Baby plays by its own rules and succeeds. But the last third is less adroit. For one thing there is rather less music here and one set piece, the Julie Felix recording of’ ‘Dirty Old Town’, fails to conform to the pattern set in that it is imposed as a mood piece on a scene in which none of the characters join in singing. Dramatically too the plotting is less effective than it should be. In a film that risks being so different, one regrets that the last few minutes should fall into cliché and prevent the piece from being as touching as one would hope because one senses the extent to which it is seeking to manipulate the emotions of the audience. But, even if there is a falling away, what really counts is the fact that so much of this reckless endeavour works so well. It could easily have been disastrous and its title is hardly inviting, but the greater part of Chuck Chuck Baby gives pleasure and a great deal of it.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Louise Brealey, Annabel Scholes, Sorcha Cusack, Beverly Rudd, Celyn Jones, Cat Simmons, Emily Fairn, Edyta Budnik, Emily Aston, Sandie Laville.
Dir Janis Pugh, Pro Anne Beresford, Adam Partridge, Andrew Gillman and Peggy Cafferty Screenplay Janis Pugh, Ph Sarah Cunningham, Pro Des Caroline Steiner, Ed Rebecca Lloyd, Costumes Mandy Cole, Sound Robert Ireland.
Artemisa Films/BFI/BBC Film/Ffilm Cymru Wales/Moment Film Group/Great Point Media-Studio Soho Distribution.
102 mins. UK. 2023. UK Rel: 19 July 2024. Cert. 15.
