Helloturia I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

filippaberry84 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.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Sevenmercury7 One of the all-time great British comedy-dramas as far as I'm concerned. It has spiky, earthy humour, a strong political message, and a huge heart. Pete Postlethwaite is fabulous as the band's enthusiastic conductor, Ewan McGregor and Tara Fitzgerald play it just right as old flames trying awkwardly to pick up where they left off, but it's TV star Stephen Tompkinson (Ballykissangel, Wild at Heart) who delivers the performance of his life here, as a struggling trombonist almost beaten by life's misfortunes--I say almost, because when you see his face full of teary defiance during his band's heartfelt rendition of Londonderry Aire, realising what it means to him, you'll feel everything this superb film wants you to about the plight of working class men and women (in this case coal miners) given the shaft by Margaret Thatcher's government. Unmissable.

SnoopyStyle It's the 90s Yorkshire, England. Gloria Mullins (Tara Fitzgerald) is assigned to her hometown of Grimley to evaluate the coal mine. The Thatcher government is closing coal mines all throughout the country and replacing them with nuclear power. The Grimley Colliery Brass band is a beloved tradition and almost as old as the mine. Gloria plays the flugelhorn and joins the band. She reconnects with childhood love Andy Barrow (Ewan McGregor). Sick band leader Danny Ormondroyd (Pete Postlethwaite) tries to rally the dispirited men.This is not necessarily a feel-good movie. It has the light quirky moments in a movie dealing with some darker working class matters. This is a place broken by the inevitable closure. This is not an uplifting story about the little guys overcoming great odds to save the mine. There is no solidarity. It is a great slice of a crumbling pie. Tara and Ewan are a good looking pair. It's Pete Postlethwaite that truly steals the audience's heart.

Robert Porter When you make the decision to watch a film that isn't a mass media marketed product like Hollywood's trite catalog, you risk seeing a stinka', or finding a gem. Although this film runs through the very many clichés of prose one liners, soap-situations, & predictable outcomes, it makes up for this with conviction, solid acting, political castigation, moral bearing & the ever moving ramifications of music. As I grow old, I have noticed how cruel life is & how corrupt our captors have become. This film's greatest irony is that they intended 'music to appear commonplace; a bit of entertainment whilst more important things are happening'. You sense this is the way it was written. However, as this film ages, it's become apparent that Governments destroy people's hopes & dreams all the time. This has now become commonplace, & the music represents the constant accumulating working class heroes that have fallen to vain man's greed. It gives the film new meaning. It's a shame that at the end of the film, they still insist this is about "Coal Mines Closing". It's maybe a bit short sighted of British film makers to abstain from giving it a broader meaning. The script isn't without it's typical British frivolity of course, & most of the time it's non-intrusive thank goodness! The course language may be a bit loud for some as is the stereotypes, but given the time & setting it's not unrealistic. I think it's this that gives the film it's lower score & yet it's vital to lighten up an otherwise dejecting story. Either way, you begin to feel for these characters, but from a purely artistic point of view, this can be a very touching watch! All the musicians I know admit that "life got in the way of music". This sounds preposterous to your average Joe, but people come & go; music remains & can out live all of us. So will this film no doubt!

DesbUK BRASSED OFF is a 1996 movie from England - written and directed by Mark Herman - in that tradition of those movies about the working classes attempting to better themselves: THE FULLY MONTY, BILLY ELLIOT and MADE IN DAGENHAM being other prominent examples. At the time it seemed like one of the last nails in the coffin of the outgoing Tory government.It's set in a real-looking Yorkshire mining town a few years after the 1984/85 miners strike, where the local coal mine is about to be closed. The miners (Ewan McGregor, Jim Carter, Stephen Tompkinson and others) find solidarity in their brass band under their conductor - retired miner Danny (the late Pete Postlewaite in his finest screen role), a man for whom music matters above all else. The pit closes, but the band makes it to the national brass band competition final at the Albert Hall. On winning, you expect Danny to make some sentimental speech about how - in spite of everything - music holds the band together. Instead, he delivers probably the explicit political diatribe against the then Conservative government and the devastation unemployment inflicts on people. It's a superb moment in a film with its heart and soul in the dying working class communities of Yorkshire. This isn't a piece of Ken Loach-like realism - it's prettified and sentimentalised for a mainstream audience, yet the movie looses nothing for it.At the close, the brass band play Elgar's Pomp and Circumstace March Number 1 as they pass the Houses of Parliament. It's meant to be ironic but it's also very touching.