Parting Shots

A self-styled 'feelgood' version of Death Wish: Harry (Rea), a put-upon photographer, discovers he has only six weeks to live, and the worm turns. He's going to be avenged on all those who ever put him down, and first on the hit list is his evil ex-wife Lisa (Rigg). This should be offensive, but isn't. It was Charles Bronson's sensual, enigmatic presence that made Death Wish so repellent. Rea is impossible to take seriously, and so the nastiness of the idea - that people we don't like deserve to die - implodes on a spectacular scale. Like one of those Alan Bennett monologues that slowly expose the speaker as completely potty, Parting Shots dangles us in two places at once. The strangulated acting by Winner's friends and neighbours, the ugly zooms, the feckless dubbing, the barmy dialogue all add to the strange, otherworldly atmosphere. A touch of genuine surrealism.