Part romantic comedy, part north country tragedy and part political diatribe, this beguilingly acted film strikes a good many grace notes on its way to a bitter-sweet finale. 'I know there's a spot of bother at pit,' says brass band leader Pete Postlethwaite, 'but this is something separate. This is music. And it's music that matters.' There's no cosy, Ealing-style comedy here, though: it's 1992 and pits are closing countrywide. The government are the bad guys and the film lets you know it. 'If this lot were seals or whales,' Postlethwaite tells the audience at the national brass band finals, 'You'd be up in arms.' You suspect that the issue wasn't quite as straightforward as that, but it is to this angry film, which only overplays its hand at the very end. Ewan McGregor, Tara Fitzgerald, Stephen Tompkinson and Co convince both in and out of the band, in a film that's shot in very good colour which for once doesn't make Yorkshire look grim and grey.

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