Mum's List

Based on St John Greene's bestselling memoir about his late wife, Kate, this drama could easily have been a gushingly sentimental study of disease and bereavement. But writer/director Niall Johnson (who lives in the same Somerset village as the family) captures the devotion that bound Kate (Emilia Fox) and Singe (Rafe Spall) from their first teenage meeting at a roller-skating rink to their sad parting in 2010. Shuffling the chronology to flit between scenes of young love, courageous struggle and poignant readjustment, Johnson may not always be subtle. But he puts great emphasis on the 100+ jottings that Kate made as she battled breast cancer to ensure she continued to play a part in raising young sons Reef and Finn. Good as Fox is, however, it's Spall's bluff charm and unexpected resourcefulness that keeps the film as rooted in reality as cinematographer Eben Bolter's seascapes. It's just a shame that Johnson couldn't have been talked out of the saccharine song selections and Amelia Warner's manipulative score.