Bryn Higgins’ first feature UNCONDITIONAL is a remarkable and novel entry into the contemporary landscape of British cinema, with a very sensitive script, a highly dynamic cinematography and an amazing cast.
The opening sequence in a shopping centre, where twin brothers Owen (Harry McEntire) and Kristen (Madeleine Clark) are buying groceries, frames the basic needs of a family under difficult circumstances as they later walk to a typical housing estate somewhere in the North East of England.
The low angle shot and canted frame depicting the tall and straight block where they live suggests that perhaps reality is not as straightforward as expected. Indeed, once in the flat, a nervous hand-held camera shows us their mother (Melanie Hill) in a wheelchair, and the efforts required by the twins to move her to the toilet. The ‘established’ use of jolted camera movements is to convey situations of distress or loss of balance; here, Higgins uses the technique to show how a doubtlessly uneasy job can be a moment of fun. This scene, above all others, perfectly encapsulates the deeply caring relationships among the three, and conveys the love and happiness that defines this ‘canted’ family nucleus.
An upside down version of Pygmalion, Liam helps Owen discover his sexuality and tries to mould him to his own liking…
Lots of shifts in focus also participate in conveying the dynamism of a film that goes unconventionally about the development of its central themes, its characters and the aesthetic choices – embracing them all. When an unusually charming young loan officer, Liam (Christian Cooke), responds to the family’s request for help, he gets entangled with them in a way that nobody could ever guess. So, initially expecting the ‘known’, one is drawn to think of Liam as leading either Owen into the path of crime or exploiting Kristen in her flourishing sexual awakening. Unpredictably, the film turns into an exploration of sexuality, and the different ways in which it is lived and expressed, as well as being a reflection about love and its disparate facets.
An upside down version of Pygmalion, Liam helps Owen discover his sexuality and tries to mould him to his own liking. Frequent and intimate close-ups allow us to witness Liam and Owen’s first date, positively forcing us to actively seek to understand who they are and what they are beginning to mean to one other. During this first date, Owen eventually starts to become visible in thorough beauty: his shyness, and also his clear happiness are alternated with humour and tenderness. One cannot help laughing at the clumsiness with which he carries – or cannot carry – himself on his newly received stiletto heels; and one cannot help smiling at the way he expresses himself in response to a loving attention which he has possibly never received before.
… an emotionally stirring journey which compels us to leave aside any easy judgement about what is wrong or right …
From now on, nothing can be ever the same for anyone, though, and constant changes of tone and mood alternate between thrill and joy and anger, violence and pain. Liam only knows the vocabulary of abuse, while Owen only knows the vocabulary of love, a pure love that can lead to a profoundly human compassion. The latter’s gentle and respectful words ‘Liam…I can’t’ are doomed by the former, ‘There is no such word…it don’t exist’. The clash between the two seems to be summed up in the different ways they respectively view themselves: the difficulty in accepting who one is appears to be Liam’s self-destructive demon, highlighted by the furtive looks of scrutiny exchanged between Liam and his father, an ex-miner macho-type. Without condoning anything to anyone, the film puts us into an emotionally stirring journey which compels us to leave aside any easy judgement about what is wrong or right. Higgins instils a desire to embrace the human failings we all get a good share of, and to never lose sight of that sunlight that after a dark midnight has always, as a law of nature, to be there… it is just a matter of wanting to spot it.