Watch Grow Your Own For Free

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

I watched the DVD of this, basically because that's how i watch movies. I wondered at the start if I had made a mistake and was going to rue the decision to buy it, but no, things livened up a bit, the comedy was subtle and the acting was stock UK standard - sometimes too good for its own good, many viewers missing the sublety. I think today we are so saturated with 'blockbuster' and 'drama' that when we see characters who seem to be not acting, we just think that they're doing badly. I've done that myself. However, although I think that Philip Jackson, who is one of my favourites, was a predictable casting, the situation was ultimately sorted in the typical British no-fuss method of side-stepping the unpleasantness and dealing to him. I liked it, no apologies for that. I'll probably watch it again.

I deeply suspect that 'tfitoby' is missing the point of what I found to be an extraordinarily sensitive and subtle piece of social comment. The point is HOPE and the vehicle is COLOUR. From the social to the physical, Richard Laxton peppers his film with the symbolism of diversity and change. From the stark, colourless winter emerges the blooming promise of spring, (using mirrored panning shots at either end of the film: Katherine Mansfield's time-honoured narrative tools in celluloid). From inconspicuous attire, evolves the vibrant 'panache' of Hawaiian shirts. The dichotomy of confinement is also explored (a space normally connected with travel, trade and promise presents itself as a physical and mental incarceration, whilst the physically enclosed space of the allotments represents freedom, social and cultural responsibility and diversity - not to mention what the intrusive nature of the communications industry). These are not humorous issues, but I feel that genuine and warming comedy helps to highlight, implicitly and explicitly in this film, the myriad of social problems – and joys - we face today. I suggest very strongly that 'tfitoby' takes another look - perhaps he could watch it on one of the BBC's prime viewing slots, say, on a Sunday evening?

I saw Grow Your Own at a test screening and while it's not edgy indie fare, it was properly funny. The audience laughed loud and frequently, it was well crafted and overall I thought the film delivered. It felt to me like one of the better Ealing Comedies, focusing as it does on an insular community of allotment growers being forced to accommodate unexpected change from outsiders, in this case traumatised refugees. The cast included familiar comic types like Olivia Coleman and Omid Djalili (both excellent) and Benedict Wong (Sunshine) is riveting as an emotionally scared asylum seeker with a horrifying story to tell. Some story lines were better than others but where the film worked brilliantly was showing how loneliness, trauma and thoughtless behaviour are balanced by kind words and community spirit without resorting to sentimentalism or unrealistic plot twists. Really entertaining.

I recently saw this movie and thought it was charming and funny. The comedy was subtle in places, laugh-out-loud in others, but always well-placed. I would disagree with the notion that some of the characters are superfluous or under- developed... I thought they were subtle, well-played and a great collection of people. I didn't find it hard to imagine them digging away somewhere on an allotment!I do agree with the comment about Benedict Wong, this was a great performance, I also really liked Eddie Marsan and Philip Jackson's characters. As for the name, I rather like "Grow Your Own" as a title!