''Under Milk Wood'' (

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

version: ''Dan y Wenallt'') is a 2015 Welsh drama film based on the radio drama of the same name by

Dylan Thomas Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer whose works include the poems "Do not go gentle into that good night" and "And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" ''Under ...

. It is adapted and directed by Kevin Allen. The narrator is Rhys Ifans. The film was selected as the British entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards but not nominated.

Cast

* Rhys Ifans as Captain Cat *

Lisa Palfrey Lisa Palfrey (born 9 February 1967) is a Welsh actress. She is known for playing the roles of Gwenny in ''House of America'' (1997), Mrs Nice in ''Guest House Paradiso'' (1999), Maureen in ''Pride'' (2014), Mrs Dai Bread 1 in ''Under Milk Woo ...

as Mrs Dai Bread 1 * Buddug Verona James as Mrs Ogmore-Pritchard *

Charlotte Church Charlotte Maria Church (born Charlotte Maria Reed, 21 February 1986) is a Welsh singer-songwriter, actress, television presenter and political activist from Cardiff. Church rose to fame in childhood as a classical singer before branching i ...

as Polly Garter * Aneirin Hughes as Organ Morgan *

Boyd Clack Boyd Daniel Clack (born 7 March 1951) is a Canadian-born Welsh writer, actor, and musician. He was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to Welsh parents. At a young age, he emigrated with his family to Wales, where he grew up in Tonyrefail ...

as Mr Pugh * Di Botcher as Mrs Dai Bread 2 * Llyr Ifans as No Good Boyo * Nia Roberts as Myfanwy Price * Julian Lewis Jones as 2nd Drowned *

Steffan Rhodri Steffan Rhodri (born 1 March 1967) is a Welsh film actor, best known for portraying Dave Coaches on ''Gavin & Stacey'', Reg Cattermole in ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1'' and as the voice of Drippy in '' Ni no Kuni: Wrath of ...

as Mog Edwards * Sara Sugarman as 1st Neighbour

Production

This was the first feature adaptation of the play since the 1972 film, which starred

Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. ...

and Richard Burton. It was largely filmed in the Pembrokeshire village of Solva during the summer of 2014. Two versions of the film were shot, one in English and the other in Welsh (known as ''Dan y Wenallt''). ''Dan y Wenallt'' was put forward for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2016 Oscars. The film premiered simultaneously in Cardiff and

Theatr Gwaun Theatr Gwaun is a cinema/theatre in Fishguard, Pembrokeshire. Built in 1885 as a Temperance hall, it was briefly converted for use as a school in January 1895 before being converted into a cinema in the 1920s. Originally, the building was know ...

in the Pembrokeshire town of Fishguard, before being shown around Wales in December 2014 as part of the centenary celebrations of Thomas's birth. It received its official UK premiere in June 2015 at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 33% based on 18 reviews, with an average rating of 5.1/10. '' The Independent'' in its review of the film says it "shows tremendous visual imagination in places and has plenty of ghoulishness, scabrous humour and eroticism along the way" and "doesn't hold back on depicting the grotesquerie of the Wales that Dylan Thomas evoked". Rhys Ifans' "delivery is calmer and more measured than Burton's mercurial, intensely dramatic rendition" and just about holds together the "dozens of surrealistic tableau-like scenes". It gives the film three out of five stars. The '' Daily Mirror'' also gave the film three out of five stars, though describing it as a "noble failure" where the director "deploys no end of visual tricks to match Thomas’s lyricism – a glaring palette, soft focusing and even a camera seemingly mounted on the back of a mouse – but the tricks distract as much as they divert". '' Variety'' magazine pointed out the humour of the original play had not aged well, the performances of the cast were "obscured by the film’s florid visual style and fruity versification", while the Welsh cast and Welsh language version would have "limited appeal outside Wales" and "minor status as a local curiosity". ''

Screen Daily ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involved in the global film business. ...

'' described the film as a "sticky mess of sexual urges and intrigue, ...which clouds Thomas’ work rather than clarifies it" with the visual component "frequently distracting and sometimes outright unpleasant".

References

External links

* {{Under Milk Wood 2015 films 2015 drama films British drama films Welsh films Films directed by Kevin Allen Films based on works by Dylan Thomas Welsh-language films English-language Welsh films Films about dreams 2010s British films

Cast

Production

Reception

See also

References

External links