Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Kate Fahy, Lydia Leonard, Amy Lloyd, Christopher Baker
Following on from her critically acclaimed debut, ‘Unrelated’, Joanna Hogg’s second feature has all the latent, simmering power and bland, maritime settings of a John Cheever short story. Simpering matriarch Patricia (a prim and traditional woman who has been sculpted around her own name) has dragged her twenty-something son (the directionless Edward) and daughter (the sly and cutting Cynthia) to their lonely, abandoned family retreat in the Isles of Scilly. The father is noticeably absent from the trip, and so the odd family is completed by a meek cook, Rose, and Patricia’s painting teacher.
As the uncomfortable family go through the motions of a happy holiday – picnics on the cliffs, visits to old restaurants, etc – they slowly unfurl the lingering resentment and personal disappointment they all feel towards one another. Edward has decided to validate his existence by saving Africa, one helpless orphan at a time; Cynthia directs her scathing and surgical wit against her frater and mater in the hope that it will prevent her from turning it against herself, and really accepting how sad and empty she is; and Patricia is so desperate to play happy families that she seems constantly on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
The film revolves around the extraordinary improvisations and spontaneity of the actors, all rehearsed and coerced wonderfully by the unquestionable talent of Joanna Hogg. The performances are natural and quiet, refreshing and understated. The finest example of this comes when the family head for an empty restaurant. Cynthia tries to keep everybody happy by enthusiastically suggesting which table they should take and what order they should sit in. Patricia’s muttering silence causes the group to move numerous times before finally settling down. When the food arrives Cynthia’s bird is apparently undercooked and she demands that her meal be returned, but she is humiliated by her mother’s decision to keep the same dish – “Mum and Ed are allergic to complaining”. All this tension is sliced open by a moment of comedic genius when, after a few minutes of awkward silence, Patricia remarks, “It’s actually quite good.”
There are other examples of Hogg’s confidence as a filmmaker, and willingness to juggle humour and tension until the two bleed into one another, and the viewer doesn’t know whether to worry for these poor souls or laugh at them. At one point, after a heated argument between the nuclear family, we cut to Rose cleaning an array of menacing blades in the kitchen. If there was any chance of the visual metaphor being overlooked, Rose suddenly emerges with an even bigger knife. We are in the palm of Hogg’s hand, and she is tickling us.
The cinematography is often flat and unattractive, but the filmmakers do well with the use of available light and evidently inexpensive production design to evoke the tonal qualities of the story. Sometimes the interior of the cottage feels warm and lively, at other times cold and vacuous; and the bland uninviting weather and harshness of the terrain are often beautifully rendered.
Joanna Hogg has saved the British Film Industry from another embarrassing LFF, and shamed the UKFC who have once again failed to notice and support a sparkling homegrown talent.
Following on from her critically acclaimed debut, ‘Unrelated’, Joanna Hogg’s second feature has all the latent, simmering power and bland, maritime settings of a John Cheever short story. Simpering matriarch Patricia (a prim and traditional woman who has been sculpted around her own name) has dragged her twenty-something son (the directionless Edward) and daughter (the sly and cutting Cynthia) to their lonely, abandoned family retreat in the Isles of Scilly. The father is noticeably absent from the trip, and so the odd family is completed by a meek cook, Rose, and Patricia’s painting teacher.
As the uncomfortable family go through the motions of a happy holiday – picnics on the cliffs, visits to old restaurants, etc – they slowly unfurl the lingering resentment and personal disappointment they all feel towards one another. Edward has decided to validate his existence by saving Africa, one helpless orphan at a time; Cynthia directs her scathing and surgical wit against her frater and mater in the hope that it will prevent her from turning it against herself, and really accepting how sad and empty she is; and Patricia is so desperate to play happy families that she seems constantly on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
The film revolves around the extraordinary improvisations and spontaneity of the actors, all rehearsed and coerced wonderfully by the unquestionable talent of Joanna Hogg. The performances are natural and quiet, refreshing and understated. The finest example of this comes when the family head for an empty restaurant. Cynthia tries to keep everybody happy by enthusiastically suggesting which table they should take and what order they should sit in. Patricia’s muttering silence causes the group to move numerous times before finally settling down. When the food arrives Cynthia’s bird is apparently undercooked and she demands that her meal be returned, but she is humiliated by her mother’s decision to keep the same dish – “Mum and Ed are allergic to complaining”. All this tension is sliced open by a moment of comedic genius when, after a few minutes of awkward silence, Patricia remarks, “It’s actually quite good.”
There are other examples of Hogg’s confidence as a filmmaker, and willingness to juggle humour and tension until the two bleed into one another, and the viewer doesn’t know whether to worry for these poor souls or laugh at them. At one point, after a heated argument between the nuclear family, we cut to Rose cleaning an array of menacing blades in the kitchen. If there was any chance of the visual metaphor being overlooked, Rose suddenly emerges with an even bigger knife. We are in the palm of Hogg’s hand, and she is tickling us.
The cinematography is often flat and unattractive, but the filmmakers do well with the use of available light and evidently inexpensive production design to evoke the tonal qualities of the story. Sometimes the interior of the cottage feels warm and lively, at other times cold and vacuous; and the bland uninviting weather and harshness of the terrain are often beautifully rendered.
Joanna Hogg has saved the British Film Industry from another embarrassing LFF, and shamed the UKFC who have once again failed to notice and support a sparkling homegrown talent.
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