Cider with Rosie

SOME SPOILERS I might have enjoyed it more if I hadn't recently listened to the BBC radio version or read the book. I understand that books and films are very different media but this is a very adaptation indeed and wastes some very useful actors. I recall watching a exterior version, possibly a BBC serial as a teenager. It was very sanitised; the menace of the boys lurking in the woods planning to attack a girl in the earlier version has become a banal incident of adolescent confusion. The children's ages were all wrong, some siblings no longer existed, while another, who'd died before they came to the village, was miraculously resurrected only to be killed off again. The constant jumping back and forth in time was badly done and confusing too.

The performance of Samantha Morton was excellent. When I saw the cast I didn't realise that it was just the voice of Timothy Spall that appears in the film. I really like Timothy Spall, but I'm not a great fan of narration in movies. I think the actors that played the children both younger and older did very well and I really liked the battling grannies who were begrudgingly fond of each other. I did not really like the jumping back and forth in time. A little of that kind of thing is okay, but there was too much of it here. The scenery is lovely and it is overall a gentle tale with some sad and sinister moments.

Cider with Rosie, is for every young boy 'Cider with Someone'. It's the perfect coming of age despite the back drop of war, and all the difficulties of life. A brilliant film that should remind every man of at least some of their own childhood. Brilliant!

This story of a life in simpler times, was magical. It reminded me of how busy we've all got, and how we've lost the connection to community and nature with our busy city lives. The movie sits in a time between the two world wars, and shows the strength of women, and the family bond. This is a simple movie. Not one with outstanding acting or huge moments. It is slowly told, with sincerity and an eye for the beauty in moments. Take some time to escape, and soak in this magical story

...not only for story - nostalgic, seductive, bitter and soft - but for atmosphere. for an England who , for a Eastern European like me, is almost mythological. for Samantha Morton giving a beautiful performance. for the poetry of images . for something who is real personal. memories, crumbs of memories, gentle change of a young man, family, a village life and unique forms of joy. and something more. out of words. but great and usefull and protective.

Too many flashbacks. For a little while they are young kids. Then teens etc. Then go back to young kids & then teens. It was like following a bouncing ball

A shameless mistelling of the Laurie Lee classic. As we all know England is a nation of immigrants and yet not a brown face in sight! The eponymous Rosie is played by a pale skinned ginger haired girl when in the novel Rosie was a stunning and brave Pakistani trans girl with a club foot.