Some Voices

Shot entirely on location in London and Hastings, Simon Cellan Jones' first feature is an interesting TV drama. Cinematically, however, it leaves much to be desired.

Essentially a love story between Ray (Daniel Craig), who has just come out of mental hospital, and Laura (Kelly Macdonald), a strong-willed pregnant Glaswegian, the film lacks focus.

As well as a romantic, childlike liaison with Laura, which is too perfect to last, Ray's relationship with his brother, Pete (David Morrissey), who runs an upmarket caff, is equally important.

Ray's condition requires medication. Pete is constantly nagging him to take the pills and Ray is perpetually fooling around and not bothering with them, which leaves him at the mercy of his illness.

Cellan Jones's background is television drama (Our Friends In The North), where realism can be enough and multiple storylines are part of the soap operatic tradition. Some Voices has two and they are both strong. In fact, there are three because Ray himself is a storyline, being the way he is, decidedly untogether.

The performances are terrific, particularly Morrissey, who captures the flaws and inadequacies of a driven man with such accuracy it hurts. Macdonald continues to prove herself to be one of the finest, most natural actors of her generation. Laura's character is both strident and sentimental. Macdonald gives her a depth and beauty that transcends stereotype.

"When I'm depressed I become invisible," Ray says. The unfocused feel to the film comes from him. You can touch Laura, you can hold her. You can argue with Pete, you can sit down and have a meal with him. Finding Ray is hard and Craig loses himself in this man's mind, waving from a place on the other side of consciousness.