A tale of two romantic comedies - both set in Camden. This Year's Love, written and directed by David Kane, is an ensemble piece that follows the entanglements of half a dozen characters over a number of years. We open at the nuptials of Danny (Douglas Henshall) and Hannah (Catherine McCormack). The festivities come to a close after it emerges that the bride has slept with the best man. Danny, a tattooist (sorry, "tattoo artist") pairs off with Marey (Kathy Burke), a cleaner at Heathrow and self-proclaimed "fat bird". Meanwhile, Hannah is seduced by Cameron (Dougray Scott), a rugged philanderer. In still another nook of Camden Lock, Sophie (Jennifer Ehle), a public-school drop-out, is making nice with Liam (Ian Hart), comic-book trader and nutter.
No need to try and remember the couples, as they don't stay together for long. Soon the same characters are co-habiting in different permutations. Coincidence is a staple, even prerequisite of romantic comedy, but This Year's Love takes it to extremes. "Paris is small for those in love," it's said in Les Enfants du Paradis. The London of this film seems to be populated by just these characters. When Marey gets mugged on the tube, who should help her out, and then fall for her, but Sophie's former love, Liam. Kane's background is in theatre, and his script plays like a series of smart sketches glued together by contrivance. Like most British films, it needed more development.
The disappointment is felt the more keenly because Kane is clearly talented. His dialogue is surprising and funny, and he creates plausible situations and people - especially Ehle's Sophie, a refreshingly bitter character for this genre. He has got superb performances out of his cast. Burke has rarely been given greater range. Scott's brutal wit is well deployed in a scene in which he makes his case as a prospective son-in-law to Sophie's father: a comic mismatch of wastrel charm and uptight reserve. And eclipsing everyone is the great Ian Hart. In his loner Liam, he runs a gamut between spaced-out stupidity and psychotic anger, never losing touch with reality or humour.
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