Review: Fisherman’s Friends: One and All

'Fisherman’s Friends: One and All' is a tale of 10 Cornish fishermen and their sea shanties.

Fisherman’s Friends: One and All (PG, 111 mins)

Directed by Meg Leonard and Nick Moorcroft

Fisherman’s Friends: One And All is a true story about ten Cornish fishermen from Port Isaac who became famous when they recorded an album of sea shanties. According to the real-life story on the target="_blank"> meetthebuoys section of their website, they sang for the Queen at her Diamond Jubilee celebration in 2012 and for then-Prince Charles and Camilla during their 2016 tour of Cornwall. The fishermen certainly helped to put Cornwall on the tourists’ agenda, with hordes turning up to Port Isaac just to catch a glimpse of them.

The fishermen’s singing is a delight: a capella with a swagger. The film is an easy, uplifting watch, with a powerful message from the main character Jim (James Purefoy) that it’s okay to be a man who’s buckling under pressure. A man who needs help shouldn’t be afraid to ask for it.

The original Fisherman’s Friends (Chris Foggin, 2019) was a story of overcoming loss, struggling to regain status and working out how to be in a world where nothing is the same as it used to be, except friendship, survival instincts and, above all, hope.

The writers of that film, Meg Leonard and Nick Moorcroft, wrote and directed Fisherman’s Friends: One And All, a feel-good film with a thread of comedy and a bit of pathos focusing on Jim, who hits the bottle when his marriage fails and his dad Jago (David Hayman) passes away. Jago still regularly appears to Jim on his lobster vessel, chatting to him reassuringly, while fed-up Jim coils ropes and hauls in the lobster pots he keeps in Port Isaac’s beautiful bay.

Jim is so grumpy, he barely notices Irish rocker Aubrey Flynn (Imelda May), who shows up in Port Isaac as she’s staying in the private hotel run by Maggie and Jim, trying to bury her past. Jim finds he hasn’t got it in him anymore to go along with the rest of the band, who want to make another album. He throws in the towel and stomps off in huff.

Maggie (Maggie Steed), Jim’s mum and the film’s most outstanding character, wants to help. She persuades the band’s record label to release their second album on the condition that Fisherman’s Friends play the world-famous Glastonbury Music Festival. Turns out mischievous Maggie has hatched a clever long-shot plan to reach the power behind Glastonbury and work some magic.

Meanwhile, predictably but heart-warmingly, Aubrey knocks Jim’s socks off. Their relationship adds depth and tenderness to the story, helping Jim to see sense and make peace with the band.

Like The Full Monty (Peter Cattaneo, 1997), a feel-good story that coincided with the awful times surrounding Princess Diana’s death, and Little Miss Sunshine (Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, 2006) which screened during the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, Fisherman’s Friends: One And All provides light relief and solace in troubled times. Sit back, relax and enjoy.

Highly recommended

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