Second Best (1994)

Fictional "woobies": they suffer well! (73 movies items)

"James (while Graham seems more emotional, it is James that is the technical woobie. In fact, the more emotional the character, the less likely in general they are to be a woobie... hard to explain). Feels guilt over his mother's suicide, was abandoned by his father, kidnapped by his father, is self destructive, etc... "

The Evolution of John Hurt (120 movies items)

"Character: Uncle Turpin "

3003 Movies Into the New Age!!!...so far? (3003 movies items)

"Directed by Chris Menges An unquestionably undermined emotional drama. I wasn't sure if it was just me as I didn't have the level of understanding at the time I first saw this nearly forgotten film back in the 90s', but I couldn't help but shake the feeling there was "more than meets the eye" when it came to the subject matter? -Then I read some descriptions of the film's plot scene by scene on-line and realize now this film is actually DEEP, deeper than most people give it credit for anyway? "

A good movie

“In the 80's, William Hurt was one of the most succesfull and respected actors. Almost all his movies were nominated for the best movie Academy award. Then, in the 90's, he wasn't anymore on the A list but it is not mean that all this movies became worthless. This feature is a good example. It is completely unknown and the story is nothing really great but thanks mostly to Hurt's very good perfomance, it is actually pretty good and definitely worth a look.” read more

The Evolution of Alan Cumming (67 movies items)

"Personagem: Bernard"

“econd best is a touching and moving masterpiece directed by Chris Menges . The plot reminded me of another

great British movie – “Dear Frankie “.I guess it is that father – son relationship that makes movies like these two so special. The loyalty of the son both in the characters of Jimmy played by Nathan Yapp and Graham Holt (William Hurt) is touching and I am not ashamed to admit that there were moments of this movie which truly brought tears to my eyes.

One other reviewer wrote:

“Chris Cleary Miles’ apparently initial screen performance as the troubled youth is near amazing.”

And I just couldn’t agree more with that – the acting of Chris Cleary Miles, William Hurt and for that matter all the other actors in this movie is first cl” read more