Tyrannosaur is a film that starts with a dog being kicked to death right after the opening credits, and proceeds further into the abyss from there. Then, in the midst of an existential crisis, Joseph stumbles into a charity shop run by the timid, devoutly Christian Hannah (Olivia Colman). Hiding behind a rack of second-hand clothes, and petulantly refusing to emerge, Joseph very gradually begins to forge a terse, uneasy friendship with Hannah. It’s later revealed that, beneath the facade of Hannah’s apparently normal, comfortable suburban life, lurks an existence even more desolate and horrible than Joseph’s. Her husband James (Eddie Marsan) is one of the most violent, sadistic husbands ever committed to film, and Hannah’s helplessness in the face of it makes some scenes almost unbearable to watch. As an actress some may associate with lighter, comedic roles in things like Peep Show or Green Wing, Olivia Colman is equally good as the battered, brave Hannah. She makes her character utterly believable throughout. Eddie Marsan, meanwhile, plays a convincingly sick coward, a weasel of a man who oscillates between cruelty and wheedling self-pity. Paddy Considine’s direction is supremely confident. While a drama set on a dismal housing estate may not appear to offer much scope for cinematic verve, Tyrannosaurus is a beautifully shot film. There’s a close-up of the back of Joseph’s head, as he lounges like an exhausted animal on an armchair in his front garden, that looks like the surface of a planet. It’s both odd and beautiful. As a piece of filmmaking, Tyrannosaur sits next to Gary Oldman’s Nil By Mouth as a realistic depiction of domestic abuse and the terrible aftermath of violence. It’s certainly not a film that anyone will relish as an evening’s entertainment (as one person put it as we trudged out of the screening room, “It’s not a date movie, is it?”), but it’s almost impossible to fault the care and respect with which it’s been made. A typically gloomy British piece of filmmaking though it is, Paddy Considine has crafted a film about a kind of cruelty that is all too common, and for that, he deserves much praise. The film won three awards at this year’s Sundance Festival, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets some attention at next year’s BAFTAs for its excellent writing, direction and authentic, heart-breaking performances. Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.