Fisherman’s Friends
Directed by: Chris Foggin
Runtime: 112 throaty minutes
Fisherman’s Friends tells the true story of the Port Isaac’s Fisherman Friends, whom I had honestly never heard of. Even sea shanty-style music is too cool for me. They were a group of Cornish fishermen who got signed to a record deal and continue to try to balance that with their embedded lives within the Port Isaac community. A story that requires this much of a mastery of tone between comedy, drama and almost a sense of the ordinary becoming…slightly less ordinary, almost needs to be British. It manages its tone with a steady hand, and its performances run a steady ship.
Daniel Mays is a nice surprise as Danny, the record producer that finds himself a fish out of water in this Cornish town. He doesn’t look like your usual leading man, but carries the confidence of an instinctive salesperson, but has the charm of someone who probably believes in what they’re selling. You can buy that he really wants love, and you believe that he deserves it.
Tuppence Middleton is perfectly endearing in her role as Danny’s love interest, Alwyn. She’s plucky and brings forth a radiance into a character that has experienced some treachery. She’s tough in how she doesn’t wear it, and how she holds the men who work around her together, and knows who they really are.
The rest of the cast is suitable in their roles. James Purefoy has the meatiest role as Jim—Alwyn’s father and the “leader”, if there were one. He’s the force of nature that Danny must convince in order to monetise the talents of the Fisherman’s Friends. He’s gruff, and I assume his accent is proficiently Cornish. I read that Purefoy is from Somerset. I’m honestly unqualified to assess whether or not this is an achievement. But the British have a way of making you convinced that they are from where they want you to think they’re from.
Funnier films have been made. Probably funnier ones about music and about fish. Fisherman’s Friends is funny though. The biggest laugh comes when Alwyn’s daughter recalls a word that Alwyn used to describe Danny privately. Fisherman’s Friends is one of those films that likes to earn its laughs that way. It does procure jokes, but they don’t land much more than chuckles or sometimes a bit of air sucked through the nose. If you’re looking for an outrageous comedy, you’re probably going to be disappointed. But for those who like that real-life subtlety, Fisherman’s Friends will probably hook you.
Fisherman’s Friends wisely avoids the manufactured drama that many films would find it easy to stoop to. A misunderstanding between the proprietor of the local pub, Danny and Jim, as well as the pub’s significance to Port Isaac could have been steeped in far more ignorance, malice, anger, and melodrama. It is played with tones of disappointment and discovery. And everyone grows as a result of the most powerful line in the film, uttered by Middleton’s Alwyn: “The heart of this town isn’t its pub, but it’s people.”
You believe these people exist. That can be the hardest job for even a semi-biographical film, because too often they rest on those people actually existing. Anyone who has ever known true eccentric will know that people wouldn’t believe you if you told them. These people aren’t eccentric. They fit together by trade, by community, and through love. They explore other dimensions by sharing music. The triumph of Fisherman’s Friends is not that it is a spectacular film, but rather that it is an unspectacular one. But it achieves this spectacularly.
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