“23 Walks” is a rare refreshing romantic film. You see so many romance films focus on the young as if only the young can fall in love. You might say there is streak of ageism in the romantic genre so much so that a younger viewer of “23 Walks” may flatly say we aren’t interested in watching a romance film with 70-year-old geezers. Well, if that’s the case good-bye.
“23 Walks” presents us with a slow and rocky romance between 70’s types Dave and Fern. They meet by chance walking their dogs. Dave has a German Shepherd Tillie and Fern a Yorkshire Terrier called Henry. They completely open up to each other after the 23rd walk but there is much occurring between the 23 walks. Lots of cups of tea and chats.
There is sadness, jealousy, pain, loneliness, suffering, withholding of facts, forgiveness, compassion and secrets. So to say this is a hollow formalistic romance movie is giving is short shrift. Could it be that falling in love is far more complicated in your 70’s than it is in your twenties? It seems so and the road to love is paved with landmines that occasionally explode and cause hurt.
In this case can Fern and Dave take it all the way once the secrets are out of the way? Although the road is rocky I suppose you can guess the ending which is not without requiring some intellectual effort on the part of the viewer.
Dave Johns as Dave and Alison Steadman as Fern give honest and steady performances., Tillie played by Sheila and Henry played by Dennis add a bit of both comedy and tragedy and are the reasons for Dave and Fern meeting and falling in love.
Very enchanting views of some of London’s parks.
Dog owners and lovers get your Kleenex ready!
The film starts off in such a way as to lead to a conclusion of a simplistic plot but its 142 minutes gives it time to develop into a more nuanced film. The film was written and directed by Paul Morrison and Vertical Entertainment will release it in select theatres and On Demand on September 17,2021.
You can see the trailer here https://vert-ent.app.box.com/s/kdlptd95mwwipyfzwxp459ldb5ho3rk6
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