David Mattin Says Dumb Things In His Tideland Review

Over at the BBC website, David Mattin has reviewed Tideland, awarding it 3 stars out of 5. Currently, the public have it pegged at an average of 4 stars, with very few of them opting for a middling score.

Mattin tries to discuss some of the plot but he gets crucial elements so wrong that, frankly, I wonder if this man should be asked to watch films professionally - he clearly can't follow simple plots.

He refers to Dell as Dicken's mother - it is instrumental to the understanding of the film that they are brother and sister, which is exactly how they are portrayed throughout. Understanding who their mother and their references to her is is the only way to make sense of several of the film's most important scenes - so, obviously, Mattin had it all wrong and I am appalled that somebdoy who couldn't even understand the simplest narrative elements of a film is spreading their half-baked perceptions so widely. The 'threadbare plot' he refers to is not only nothing like threadbare at all, it doesn't "centre on" the supposed mystery he alleges. He didn't understand the film, therefore his review is negated absolutely and, if there is any justice in the world, he won't be sent to review any more films.

Hopefully the BBC will edit the errors out so that they don't confuse any readers who later head off to see the film.

Gah! Critics! At the press screening last week, my counterparts spent so little time actually watching the film and so much time nodding their heads to their notepads I thought I was going to actually, physically, quite literally explode.