THE LAST BUS

UK, 2021, 86 minutes, Colour.

Timothy Spall, Phyllis Logan, Natalie Mitson, Ben Ewing.

Directed by Gillies MacKinnon.

Perhaps the older you are, perhaps the more you will enjoy this film. At the centre is Timothy Spall as Tom Harper, old man, 90ish. We see him in his home at John O’Groats and his decision to go to the other extreme of Britain, to Land’s End where, we eventually learn, he originally came from with his young wife, Mary. He now wants to journey back, studies the map, traces his route, has his ticket, has his folder and notebook with details of the buses, the routes, B&B stopovers. He is prepared but he is old, physically unwell, but determined.

Most audiences have identified with Tom and his journey, with his genial personality and the way that people respond to him during his journey – not only in personal encounters, but with everybody having a camera, instagram photos, selfies, sharing them all on social media which, of course, he does not realise.

Some responses have said that the story is boring, just following an old man on many, many buses. Others, this reviewer included, identify well with Tom, want to be with him on his journey, want to know what the purposes of the journey are, how he will manage, how we will succeed, and what is the goal.

The audience does spend a lot of time inside buses, sitting with Tom, observing him, looking out the window at the range of Scottish and British countrysides, small towns, cities, the sea.

Timothy Spall is in every sequence and is so persuasive, elderly, a bit lined, jutting bottom lip making him look forbidding, teeth, a certain severity – but able to move into the most genial and friendly of smiles.

The plot, in fact, is made up of a whole range of vignettes, some very brief in running time but effective, many of the memorable. On the whole, people are very warm in their response to Tom (becoming a touch more hostile the further south he goes). There are, eventually, pompous bureaucratic British bus drivers who won’t acknowledge his ticket, counterbalanced by others who, as he becomes better known, offering free rides. There is a very telling sequence where a bigoted man, Liverpool, taunts a Muslim woman in her burqa, she having offered Tom a seat. Tom intervenes, the man violent, Tom responding but falling, but the public on the bus, filming of course, are very supportive and the man is ejected.

However, there is a whole range of delightful sequences, Tom making a paper frog for a little girl at the bus stop, a woman snatching his bag and a pursuit, Tom giving her some money for her needs, retrieving the bag which he keeps close to him, wandering on a dark city street at night but helped by a mixed-race couple, inviting him home, their daughter returning from a performance of My Fair Lady, the family singing and waltzing; Tom sitting at the back of a bus with schoolgirls, many cheerleaders, him tapping to the rhythms of their songs; football fans at a bus stop, taunting and flirting with the women, an old drunk man urging Tom to sing and eventually eliciting Amazing Grace with everybody hushed and listening; he injures his finger as he pushes a stalled van early in the journey, helps a bus driver to ignite the broken down bus, drawing on his life in mechanics; there is an accident and he has to go to hospital; his being stranded on the road and picked up by bus full of Ukrainians going to a party; he is disappointed at the old B&B and not being able to have his room of 70 years earlier; which means that by the time he reaches Land’s End, after a visit to his daughter’s grave, he is welcomed.

Throughout the bus trip, there have been many flashbacks to Tom and Mary, marriage, initial sexual reticence, pregnancy, the birth of their daughter, her death, the move from Cornwall to Scotland, her life at home, Mary is cancer diagnosed.

Mary is played by Phyllis Logan who appeared with Timothy Spall as his wife in the acclaimed Secrets and Lies.

A great deal of humour, a great deal of emotion, and tears of sadness and joy. The film was directed by veteran Gillies MacKinnon who has always had a humane touch in his films.

1. The title? The range of buses? The last arriving at Land’s End?
2. The story seemingly based on actual events – but a fiction? An engaging fiction?
3. A road trip from John O’Groats, through Scotland, through England, to Land’s End? The range of scenery, countryside, small towns, cities, audience response to the changing landscapes? Tom observing them, remembering?
4. Tom’s story: the 1950s, Tom and Mary, the flashbacks to their courting, in Cornwall, marriage, Mary’s gratitude for Tom’s restraint in consummation, pregnant, the birth of their daughter, happiness, the absence of the daughter throughout the film, the revelation about her death, the effect on the couple? Then moving to Scotland, as far away as possible?
5. The flashbacks to life in Scotland, their growing old, older, in the house, company, in the garden, health diagnoses, Mary ill, her death? The effect on Tom? His own prognosis?
6. Tom, his age, 90s? Appearance, jutting lower lip, looking severe, lined, his teeth, yet able to smile and share joy? From forbidding to friendly?
7. Timothy Spall, his screen presence? Convincing as Tom? Packing, hanging onto his case throughout the story? His map, planning the journey, his notebook, ticket and pass? B&B?
8. At the bus stop, the bus, the van blocking the way, Tom getting out to help and push, success, cutting his fingers, the later dangers?
9. The audience in all the buses with Tom, interiors, passengers, looking out the window, the passing world, the passing countryside, people, occupied?
10. The vignettes constituting the narrative, Tom and his reaction in each of them, friendly and kindly, standing up for the rights of the Muslim woman against the bigot and wanting him off the bus, passengers’ support, video? The unpleasant British bus drivers and bureaucracy and tickets?
11. Tom, happy experiences on the bus, the range of brief vignettes and their effect, charm, happiness, the little girl and the paper frog and her catching it, the bus stop and the young girl snatching the case, the pursuit, the woman helping, Tom offering the money, recovering the case; his going to sleep, wandering the city roads, no taxi, the couple finding him, taking him home, attending him, their daughter, the performance from My Fair Lady, Tom dancing, the meal, tending to him, wishing him well, the selfie; sitting with the cheerleader girls on the bus and tapping malady, at the bus stop, the football yobs, the flirting women, the old alcoholic, urging a song, Amazing Grace, people silent and listening; upstairs on the bus, knocking him, in hospital, the discussions, tending his fingers, his leaving; the range of drivers offering him free rides; stranded, the van picking him up, the Ukrainians, the birthday celebration, the children fighting over the case and his taking it, their all knowing who he was; at the B&B, the landlady, not getting room one with its memories; the bus encounter with a Muslim woman, her offering him a seat, little boy, the biggest, pushing Tom, the fight, his being ousted from the bus; the bus breaking down, his fixing the engine; people knowing who was; photos, instead, social media?
12. The visit to the cemetery, his daughter’s grave, putting the picture on the grave?
13. Tom arriving at Land’s End, people ready, welcoming him, his bewilderment, his memories of the pier, making his way, unpacking his case, the clothes and his affection, the tin, pouring out Mary’s ashes? Mission accomplished?