Cert PG 91mins Stars 4

A dream team of British acting talent combine to create a moving portrait of an artist as a middle aged man, in this achingly melancholic biopic of ‘matchstick men’ painter, L. S. Lowry.

Having won awards for playing another great artist in Mike Leigh’s 2014 film, Mr Turner, Timothy Spall carries himself with a sad, quiet dignity while being dominated by his bed-ridden, self-pitying and snobbish mother.

She’s played by the grand dame of English acting, Vanessa Redgrave, she relishes the dialogue of Salford screenwriter Martyn Hesford, whose lines have the comic observation of playwright, Alan Bennett.

A thwarted concert pianist, the embittered woman tries to persuade her son from pursing his passion for painting, while he earns money as a rent collector.

Director Adrian Noble provides a claustrophobic canvas for his stars to bring a testy and tender relationship to full drawn life.