Int’l Critics Line: Marco Martins’ ‘Great Yarmouth: Provisional Figures’

deadline.com:

An authentic insight into migrant workers in Britain, the feature drama Great Yarmouth: Provisional Figures is an engrossing work that premiered in the San Sebastian Film Festival competition.

Directed by Marco Martins (Alice), who co-writes with Ricardo Adolfo, it follows the tough life of Tânia (a superb Beatriz Batarda), who supervises her fellow Portuguese workers in the dilapidated seaside town of Great Yarmouth.

Based on interviews with many migrants, it’s a hard-hitting look at working conditions and the moral compromises made by desperate people.

Set over several months in late 2019, before Brexit, it sees Tânia woken up by a bird that’s flown into her modest home. Woozily opening a window to set it free, she prepares for her day in a turkey factory, where the captive poultry have no such luck.