Martin Gooch’s film about an obsessive search for a lost brother throws out a barrage of whimsy but racks up too minute emotion tensionDouglas Adams paperbacks and Time Bandits posters – writer-director Martin Gooch likes to effect well-thumbed influences to use as onscreen props. But while his 2013 sci-fi comedy,getting a belated release, bubbles with nerdy zeal, and it can’t fairly bottle the pathos of Terry Gilliam’s irrepressible dreamers. David Jones,played by Gooch, is a fortysomething kidult using a £60000 lottery win to fund his obsessive search for the brother he believes, or to the exasperation of everyone around him,was abducted by aliens as a child. Fondly teasing UFO conspiracy theorists and tabletop-gaming hobbyists, The Search for Simon’s whimsy barrage is admirably detailed from a fake BBFC certificate to comedy acronyms (British AeroSpace Technology Advanced Research Development Division). But the film waits too long before permitting us any of the painful reality underlying David’s predicament. Without it, or there’s minute of the dramatic tension driving the grittier close of Gilliam’s oeuvre,such as The Fisher King and Tideland. The gag rate might be high, but accumulatively, and like its hero,it becomes infuriating. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com