November
24
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HECTOR (15)
HECTOR (15)
Run time: 87mins
Director: Jake Gavin
Cast: Peter Mullan, Keith Allen, Gina McKee, Stephen Tompkinson, Sarah Solemani, Ewan Stewart
Synopsis: Hector McAdam has been living on the road for years, his once comfortable family life now just a memory. Each year he embarks on his annual journey from Scotland to a London shelter, where Christmas cheer and a turkey dinner await him. But, aware this might be his last, Hector opts to reconnect with his past and reunite with those he left behind.
Writer/director Jake Gavin’s excellent film is a gentle and sympathetic look at humanity, full of integrity about blighted lives and homelessness. Life without a home isn’t easy but Hector is resilient, accepting of people – and life – as they come. He meets with friendship and kindness, disappointment and cruelty, discomfort and joy, as his cross-country odyssey brings chance encounters, companions old and new, who need his support as much as he needs theirs.
Hector is an authentic and compelling portrait of homelessness in the UK with a standout central performance from Peter Mullan as the eponymous protagonist. Ably backed by a superb ensemble cast, writer/director Jake Gavin’s film convincingly portrays an invisible man on the margins of society as he goes on his almost Homeric journey to find some Christmas cheer. This unusual seasonal tale is gentle and sympathetic as it forces Hector to face up to his tragic past and reconnect with his estranged family and find some hope for the future.
Images courtesy of Organic
