Dylan Williams’ wry eye for
comedy keeps this documentary about a senior Welsh male voice choir the right side of sentimental
There aren’t many things you can count on in this world. But just as we know the sun always rises in the east, tides rise and fall on schedule, and plutonium isotopes decay at a certain rate, you know that there will be a feature film, maybe starring Jonathan Pryce or even Tom Jones, made out of this documentary about a senior Welsh male voice choir.
When film-maker Dylan Williams gets a phone call from his widowed nonagenarian father Ed saying he’s sold the family home and is making plans for his own funeral, the director knows it’s time to go home to Rhyl and spend some time with dad. Via voiceover from Dylan and nippily snipped editing we’re introduced to Ed’s tranquil, weekly rituals, from the weekly sheet change and Tuesday’s bacon sandwich, to practice with the Côr Meibion Trelawnyd, the Welsh-language all-male choir he’s been singing with for decades. A splice of archive footage shows Ed and some of his
Friends in the prime of middle age, belting it out on TV back in the day when the choir competed in singing competitions.