Who payed the critics

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

For me, this film doesn't put a foot wrong. The colours are sombre, the cinematography beautiful, the music haunting - just enough of it and well chosen - and the acting is flawless. Eddie Marsan conjures up yet another truly believable character -what an actor. In fact every actor has his or her part to play in this film as the ending clearly indicates.The subject matter is deeply fitting for a fragmented society such as ours but a tiny ray of hope exists in the loneliness of the people portrayed within, even though you've been thrown off balance. The ending is truly touching. This film will stay with you and I hope you will be left wondering why it didn't get more attention on its release - no special effects and explosions I suppose, just a well scripted and superbly acted independent film.

Truly moving and compassionate story of a quiet, lonely, and friendless public servant in London, daily laboring diligently in a thankless job that few would want, but he did it so well that his efforts might be called almost "heavenly". To him, his job was important to the point of critical accuracy in documentation, and was much more to him than mere service, it was a passion approaching art. It was his life to sort what remained to be done for those who had died without friends, relatives or anyone who might want or care to know. In that chore he was a Rembrandt, as he was just like those forgotten, meaningless people for whom he tried so hard to give at least some final care. To him, even if not to others, they were worthy.Whether out and about trying to connect the dots of a deceased person's past, or compiling the found details of same in a little storeroom office, cloistered away every day he carried on, trying to give some level of final dignity to those who may never have had any in life. A proper church funeral, with only him attending, was his way of sending them off with someone looking on, someone knowing and caring that they had lived but were now gone.This story was very small, as it had to be, and it was perfectly told and acted, with the great Eddie Marsan as the public servant and Joanne Froggatt in a small role as a deceased man's daughter. An excellent and fitting musical score accompanied. The ending was surprising, but as rewarding as an ending could be for a man such as he. Although unrealized to fruition, he did finally find a friend who cared to know him. And, there were others. You will not have a dry eye when you leave the theatre, but I trust that you will have a better heart for it.

Loved this film until the bus accident, I couldn't take it seriously after that. A bus knocks somebody down and kills them in the UK for every 27 million miles travelled. How likely is it that somebody as meticulous as John May would be standing there at the time? 66% of people in the UK don't believe in ghosts, so like me they won't buy into the final scene. Take the ghosts away and all you are left with is a cruel irony, a lonely man spends his life trying to get people to care enough to go to the funerals of other socially isolated people who died alone, probably because of his fear of this happening to him, and then nobody goes to his. I watched a beautifully acted, nuanced, poignant film for 1 hour 20 minutes followed by a load of rubbish for the last 10 minutes. Don't think I've ever been so disappointed by the ending of a film.

It's difficult to find a film that touches many of the emotions that this one does. Billed as a comedy drama, I'm not sure that fits. There is drama and there is comedy, but not in any extreme way.The story is quaint. John May is a detective, but not in the usual sense: he is tasked by the local borough council to find relatives of deceased residents of the council. Eddie Marsden plays a dedicated, humble employee of the council who provides people with one last opportunity for dignity, by arranging their funeral - until one day he is told by his boss that he is no longer needed and has one last 'case' to investigate. Thus he is sent on one final quest - to find the relatives of Billy Stoke.It is a film about death, but it is not morbid. The film has a meandering pace, although this is not a criticism. The scenes unfold as if one were pausing to take in the enormity of what we are seeing, as if we were at a funeral observing, for the first time, the life being celebrated.However, what really excels is the way that all the elements of film-making work together to make this an enjoyable watch. The cinematography (I'm reminded of those great movies from the 1950s), the screen writing, the Art Direction, music, sound, all add to what is a well directed piece from a veteran of the cinema. There's a lovely subtle dialogue exchange in the morgue about a Dodo - you need to watch this to get it - that expresses so well the understated yet genius nature of this film.If you love Transformers, you'll hate this movie. I love this film. Each viewing reveals information that was missed. It's one, I should think, I shall watch a good number of times.