Staid 'Tommy's Honour' par for the dramatic course
As far as dramatic excitement goes, movies about playing golf rank just above movies about playing chess.
Both attempt to dramatize mental processes: chess with its step-ahead-of-your-opponent strategizing, golf with its myriad analytical considerations of physics, wind-speed, terrain, club design, grip and human temperament.
Fortunately, "Tommy's Honour" - directed by Sean Connery's golf-enthusiast son Jason Connery - uses the game to drive a staid, historical drama about a rebel Scotsman who dared to follow his heart and robustly challenge the British class system in a way that should qualify him as an honorary American.
In short, "Tommy's Honour" takes a cue from "Fiddler on the Roof" with its classic battle between tradition and progressive thinking.
During the 1860s, old Tom Morris (Peter Mullan) provides for his family of six as a greenskeeper and golf instructor at Scotland's esteemed St. Andrews golf course.
He pours everything he knows about the sport into his firstborn son Tommy (Jack Lowden). Tommy becomes so skilled on the links that the St. Andrews gentry just know he'll make a fine caddie.
Young Tommy has other, bigger plans. Unlike his father, who accepts his subordinate station, Tommy uses his clubs to crack open the private clubs of the aristocracy, personified by Sam Neill's pompous Alexander Boothby, given to shrill, condescending outbursts.
"Your station in life was set long before you were born!" he screeches. "You will never be a gentleman!"
With his untamable explosion of fiery red hair, Tommy continues to defy the status quo by pursuing Meg (Ophelia Lovibond), a working class woman nearly a decade his senior with a past so unsavory that his ardently Christian mother rejects her.
"Tommy's Honour" teems with dramatic conflicts, yet its leisurely pacing and Connery's respectful, restrained direction underplay the story's numerous triumphant highs and tearful lows.
The ending involving an interview with an 84-year-old Tom Morris should be a two-fisted Kleenex moment. It settles for barely a fist.
Mullan and Lowden share a natural chemistry that evokes a realistic father-and-son relationship, a sticky wicket of affection, antagonism and mutual respect.
Gary Shaw's atmospherically handsome cinematography receives a huge boost from actual Scotland locations, craggy and ancient sets that could never be replicated on Canadian terrain.
A special notice goes to Foley artist Sue Harding for recreating the most dynamic "swiiiiiish!" sound ever to accompany a cinematic golf club swing.
“Tommy's Honour”
★ ★ ½
Starring: Jack Lowden, Peter Mullan, Ophelia Lovibond, Sam Neill
Directed by: Jason Connery
Other: A Roadside Attractions release. Rated PG. 112 minutes