An elderly widower sets out on a mission to travel, using only his bus pass, all the way from John o'Groats to Land's End to scatter his wife's ashes in the sea near where they both grew up. There are complications on his odyssey involving encounters with drunken racist louts and officious ticket inspectors, as well as meeting kind strangers who help him on his way. The incomparable Timothy Spall, managing to project through the encumbrance of playing a man thirty years older than himself, carries a film with a fairly off-the-shelf storyline and the sum total is a heartwarming piece, though also a clichéd one. The modern world does get a cursory look in too, with hen parties, Ukrainian immigrants and the universal obsession with mobiles and selfies, albeit that for once the last of these is viewed as a positive aspect as the voyager's mission goes viral and gains him a supportive following.
Not many marks for originality, but nevertheless a far more cohesive and immersive work than anything the veteran director has managed for many years.
6/10
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