Tyrannosaur

It doesn’t take very long for the performances in Tyrannosaur to get under your skin. Between Peter Mullan’s broken Joseph and Olivia Colman’s shattered Hannah, Tyrannosaur may have the best pair of leading performances of any 2011 film. Granted, this is not a walk in the park or a breezy Woody Allen comedy; Tyrannosaur is incendiary, thanks to the work of these actors. Usually with films like this, there’s an undeniable connection between the two characters, and usually, they’re also looking for that connection. In this case, we have two characters looking for one day to finally be better than the last. It’s not a love story; it’s more of a calmed-storm story. While it features some emotionally brutal scenes, it’s worth enduring, particularly to be introduced to Olivia Colman.