David Stratton Reviews 23 Walks and Litigante

23 Walks is a British film about a London couple, both in late middle age, who meet while walking their dogs.

A scene from 23 Walks

Aimed specifically at older cinemagoers, 23 Walks is a British film about a London couple, both in late middle age, who meet while walking their dogs.

Dave (Dave Johns), the gregarious owner of a German shepherd named Tillie, encounters Fern (Alison Steadman), whose Yorkshire terrier is named Henry, on a narrow walking track. Their first meeting is far from harmonious; Fern upbraids Dave for not keeping his dog on a lead. But they keep meeting and eventually they begin walking together and enjoying each other’s ­company.

Fern’s businessman husband has left her for his secretary, and is negotiating to sell the comfortable family house where she’s lived for years. Dave tells her his wife has passed away, but that proves untrue, and provides one of the stumbling blocks to the blooming relationship.

This is a very small film, but it has its share of attractions, not least the two amiable central characters and the green and pleasant settings — featuring England at its most attractive — where the couple enjoy their walks. At the beginning of the film, the walks are numbered with on-screen texts, but if we actually arrived at the 23rd walk promised in the title I missed it. The screenplay, by director Paul Morrison, is totally predictable, but the target audience probably won’t mind that. Along the way, however, there are some chilling insights into the British welfare system and the ruthless way it dispenses, and then withdraws, its largesse.

Johns and Steadman give relaxed and likeable performances as Dave and Fern, the former laid-back and invariably cheerful — despite the secret he keeps to himself for much too long — and the latter proud, quick to take offence, yet very decent and honest. Spending time in their company is time well spent.

23 Walks (M)

Limited release

3.5 stars

In this film from Colombia, Leticia Gomez — a non-professional actor — plays Leticia, a middle-aged former lawyer who is dying of cancer. It sounds grim, to be sure, but the film, directed by Franco Lolli, brings heartfelt insight into the material.

Leticia is, understandably, angry. She hates the chemotherapy she’s receiving and dreads to think that she might be about to suffer a great deal of pain; but that doesn’t stop her smoking, as her elder daughter, Silvia (Carolina Salin), points out. Silvia is also having a tough time of it. Like her mother, she’s a lawyer and she works for a government department. There’s a whiff of corruption, and, during a live interview with a radio journalist, Silvia is accused of turning a blind eye to some shady contracts. You would imagine that coping with this drama, and with her very demanding mother, would be enough, but she is also a single mother whose five-year-old son (Antonio Martinez) is “difficult”.

In between bitter arguments with her mother, defending herself in court proceedings, coping with her obstreperous child, and wondering when to reveal to the boy the identity of his father — another, older, lawyer who is no longer on the scene — Silvia meets Abel (Vladimir Duran) at a party. Despite the fact that he was the journalist who gave her such a hard time on air, she begins a relationship with him.

Litigante impresses with its candid exploration of the lives of two women, mother and daughter, who are very much alike and, probably because of that have great difficulty getting along with one another even though, deep down, it’s very clear how much they love one another. Its subject matter may be bleak, but the performances ennoble the material.

Litigante (M)

Limited release

3.5 stars