Claysaba
Excellent, Without a doubt!!
XoWizIama
Excellent adaptation.
Arianna Moses
Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
bbewnylorac
John Simm is such an intelligent and under-rated actor. Not overly suave or good looking, but great at playing the troubled everyman. Here he has a role that fits like a glove: a sacked London journalist (with the clichéd alcohol and drug dependence) forced to return to his home town where his sister Nancy (the superb Olivia Colman) is caring for their father (Jim Broadbent) who has Alzheimer's. The plot follows Simm's character's attempts to solve a mystery from his Dad's past. It's more a study of a fractured family than a great thriller, but I think Simm could read the phone book and be interesting. He's good at conveying wry humour, attraction to the opposite sex, a kind of basic integrity and passion. I'd like to see him in a regular series with some of that salty humour and energy. He's yet to get the profile he deserves.
Derek Smith
I had recently seen Simm in State of Play, in which he was first class, an I wrote a review of it. Flicking though Simm's IMDb entries I found Exile and read the reviews. Less than £5 later my wife and I settled down to watch the DVD with an alternative handy if it turned out to be rubbish.We were both entranced.I agree that there were one of two times when belief had to be suspended just a bit but, as I used to be a police officer, I have to do that for many series. Beyond that it was very good TV drama.The story unfolded steadily, keeping my wife and me watching for two hours before it got too late. The following morning we talked about it, it was that involving. The final episode maintained the decent plotting, the excellent acting and the very good script.The Alzheimers was an important part of the script and really was touching. If you have ever known anyone dismembered by this terrible disease then be prepared to have it opened out in front of you again. Heartbreaking isn't a big enough word.Simm takes the part of failed journalist very well but perhaps not quite as good as he did in State of Play. Broadbent is well worth the money in whatever he does, a real gem. Olivia Colman is up there with him in acting ability. She was superb.All three deserve the plaudits. They really did work well together.After seeing the end of the series my wife and I ended up talking about it for an hour afterwards. It is the sort of film that will stay with you for some time. It does nothing remarkable or revolutionary. It is nothing more than an excellently written script acted to perfection.So I fall in line with most other reviewers on here, if not quite so generous with stars as most. Well worth the money I paid, less than £2 and hour. Top quality drama.
ellenmeilee
This is a high quality, dark psychological drama, with the odd blackly comic moment thrown in, and well worth spending 3 hours on. It's beautifully shot with some stunning locations, and the performances of John Simm, Jim Broadbent and Olivia Coleman (particulary John Simm) are utterly compelling. John Simm's character, Tom, spectacularly messes up his life and career as a journalist in London, and goes back home to Lancashire. He finds his retired journalist dad, whom he idolised as a child, to be suffering from dementia and being cared for by his sister. It turns out he had a sudden, violent and catastrophic falling-out with his dad many years ago which led to him fleeing to London, and now he is back home he becomes determined to get to the bottom of what happened to cause the fall-out. This proves more complicated that he thought, mainly due to his dad's mental capacity - however by the end, he does manage to piece the devastating truth together, and as with all the characters John Simm plays in such a believable, 'everyman' way, we root for him the whole time, even though his character is not saintly by any means.My only beef with this would be that the script and plot do contain some real clichéd moments, and you do have to suspend a bit of disbelief about how relatively easy it is for Tom to locate some of the key characters and certain bits of information about the past. That being said, it's the excellence of the actors' performances that totally clinch this for me.If, like me, you're a fan of Mr Simm, you will not be disappointed in this.
Ali Catterall
A prime candidate for a 'If you've been affected by any of the issues raised in this programme' tag, Exile sees Simm's disgraced hack flee to his Lancashire hometown for the first time in 18 years, to discover his once idolised reporter dad destroyed by Alzheimer's – along with a hideous buried scandal.Befitting the title, both father and son are exiles – from their careers, from sense, from truth; here, investigative reporting makes a fine metaphor for a crusade against the corruption of memory, and the pursuit of identity itself.Essentially a three-hander between Simm (cornering the brooding everyman corner), the wonderful Colman (playing it straight) and the mighty Broadbent, the latter's portrayal of this terrible condition must be among the most devastatingly accurate ever placed on screen. Shocking and extremely moving, with a final scene that's – ironically – quite unforgettable.
