Film Long Way Back and Fisherman’s Friends: the sequel

A Cornish road movie from brothers Brett and Simon Harvey

The “Nearly Home Trees”, they call them. Cookworthy Knapp, to use its given name, is a much-loved landmark close to the Devon/Cornwall border near Launceston. After a long journey, the appearance of the tree-topped knoll on the horizon means “home”, so its starring role in a Cornish road movie is well earned.

In Long Way Back, we meet reluctant father David, who is the only person who can help his estranged daughter Lea when she leaves university under tragic circumstances. As they make an eventful car journey across Britain, revisiting old haunts – concluding with the copse of 100 beech trees - and reliving old memories, David attempts to make up for a lifetime of disappointments and to reconnect with Lea. But is it too late?

It’s an emotionally visceral tale of relationships, regret, responsibility and ultimately love. Long Way Back stars top Cornish talent: Tristan Sturrock, most recently seen as Zacky Martin in the BBC’s wildly popular adaptation of Poldark; Chloe Endean, who made her film debut in Mark Jenkin’s Bafta award-winning Bait; and star of stage and screen Susan Penhaligon.

The content has family at its heart, and it’s a family affair behind the screens too. Long Way Back was written and directed by Brett Harvey and produced by his brother, Simon (who also appears in the film). Third brother Dan did the on-site catering, and various other relatives have walk-on parts.

Long Way Back was filmed largely in Cornwall on a minuscule budget in 2019, and premiered at this year’s Manchester International Film Festival, its release delayed by the pandemic. In April, two impromptu screenings in Truro sold out, and it’s bound to be popular when it returns to home turf in September, showing in WTW cinemas and Newlyn Filmhouse.

“We waited so long to show it to an audience, we were quite nervous,” says Brett. “But the reception was incredible. It provoked lots of interesting conversations.” “The Truro screenings were overwhelming,” adds Simon. “We grew up going to the Plaza. I have never had to stand outside an auditorium and shake so many hands.”

Brett was inspired to write the story many moons ago, on a similar journey home from university with his father. “I couldn’t remember any other time with just me and him in the car,” he says. “We didn’t know what to say to each other. It was slightly awkward, and I remember thinking it would be a great setting for a film. It’s only taken me 20 years to develop it, and the characters are about as far from me and my dad as possible – they are far more interesting.”

The idea of a British road movie is unusual: “You can drive to most places in a day, so we came up with a story in which they weren’t in a hurry, and didn’t mind taking detours,” Simon explains.

Cookworthy Knapp is on private land (on the Devon side of the border), so the brothers had to seek permission to film there. “It was quite hard to find out who owned them, so in the end we drove out and knocked on doors until we found the owner,” says Simon.

“I’d always wondered what they looked like from inside,” adds Brett. “We always make films with the audience in mind, and this one is especially Cornish. The more people I speak to, the more I find it really resonates with people as an image.”

Most of the action takes place in the car (Simon's Saab, which deserves a credit in its own right), giving the brothers the challenge of finding “the epic in the ordinary” - quite a good rule to live your life by in general.

The Harveys pride themselves on featuring Cornish locations that haven’t been filmed before, and there isn’t a single shot of a beach in Long Way Back “or in any of my films, and I wear that as a badge of pride,” says Brett. “It’s good to see a different side of Cornwall on screen.” “Our reality of living here isn’t being on beaches all the time,” chimes in Simon. “That’s why Bait landed – it dealt with real human emotions everyone can relate to.

“I get really fed up when people say ‘will it have broad appeal if you make it in Cornwall?’ I love watching films set in a factory in the middle of the USA. I don’t know anything about those places, but I believe those people exist. Such films are specific yet simultaneously universal.”

Both supplement their income by working in Cornwall’s burgeoning creative industry: “You don’t go into film making at this level to get rich.” Simon is an Associate Artist at the Hall for Cornwall and a theatre director for hire, most recently bagging a 2022 Olivier for Best Entertainment or Comedy Play for Pride and Prejudice (Sort of), a comedic retelling of Austen’s novel that comes to the Minack in September.

Brett is currently editing films for Tate St Ives, and has a new work in progress: Full Stops Not Tadpoles, a genre-bending comedy drama about Parkinson’s, following his own “life-altering” diagnosis in 2019. Both brothers are also associate lecturers at Falmouth University, and drew heavily on it for their crew, offering moneycan't-buy experience for their students to get a credit on a bona fide cinema release.

The brothers have worked together before, on films including Long Weekend and Brown Willy. It’s a formula that clearly works: “It’s not like working with my brother,” says Brett. “We’re more like collaborators. Simon will give it to me straight.”

“Some people do this just as a job,” says Simon, “but for us it’s an investment. We’ve got each other’s back.” l Long Way Home plays in cinemas from September 2.

Pride and Prejudice (Sort of) comes to the Minack Theatre from September 22 to October 6.

The Fisherman’s Friends film spawns a sequel

In 2019, the story of Cornwall's most famous “buoy band”, the Fisherman’s Friends, was immortalised on film. Its uplifting story of everyman success drew such keen interest that its producers decided a sequel was in order. As a result, Fisherman’s Friends: One and All – whose subtitle echoes the Cornish motto - sails into cinemas across the UK and Ireland from Friday, August 19.

The original hit movie was inspired by the story of the wildly popular shanty singers, who rose to fame performing on the harbour in their native Port Isaac. Executive producer Meg Leonard admits a sequel wasn’t part of the original plan but grew out of the film’s rapturous reception. “We were thrilled by how engaged audiences with the storyline and the characters,” she says. “The pitch was simple: 10 singing fishermen get a major record deal and chart in the top 10. The next one was the challenge of their success.”

Part two catches up with them a year later, following the soaraway success of their debut album No Hopers, Jokers and Rogues. Struggling to navigate the pressures, pitfalls and temptations of their newfound fame, band members find lifelong friendships are put to the test as they battle the dreaded “curse of the second album”. Will they iron out these issues in time to perform on the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury, on the same bill as Beyonce?

Returning cast members include Maggie Steed, Dave Johns, Sam Swainsbury, Jade Anouka, David Hayman and James Purefoy, whose character Jim is at the forefront of the action. As well as getting to grips with his public profile, Jim is grieving the loss of fellow band Jago in the first film.

“We wanted to go to deeper places,” says Meg. “Jim is an alpha male, and has to admit that it’s OK to be not OK. James spent a lot of time on this in the script process, beyond the role of an actor, and we honoured that by crediting him as executive producer.”

New faces including Richard Harrington, Ramon Tikaram, Joshua McGuire and Irish singer-songwriter Imelda May in her debut acting role as a washed-up rock star hiding out in rural Cornwall: in Meg’s words, “an emotionally complex female lead” and a foil for Jim. The action moves beyond Port Isaac, with a performance at the Minack and plenty of shots of wild coastal scenery and abandoned engine houses.

The stage musical based on the film returns to the Hall For Cornwall, Truro from April 11 to 22, 2023. Since the world premiere launched the refurbished auditorium in October 2021, the show has been refreshed to reflect the content of both films, and will tour nationally before crossing the Atlantic to Canada.

Lest we forget that it’s all based on a true story, the film ends with footage of the actual Fisherman’s Friends making their way to Glasto in 2011, and preparing to go on stage. “It’s so moving,” says Meg, who was in the audience for that very performance. “It’s amazing to watch it now.

“Shanties are in our DNA. Shanties are cool. “I think people want a sense of community tradition, honesty and simplicity, now more than ever.” l

Fisherman’s Friends: One and All (12A) plays in cinemas from Friday, August 19.