Review of Vinyan

Couple who lost their son in the tsunami in the Thailand are shocked to discover a figure that might be their son in video footage taken by a reporter deep in the jungle. Biting the bullet and wanting to find out for sure the couple heads into the jungle and their own heart of darkness. Dark brooding film is very much like the Joseph Conrad story that inspired Apocalypse Now. This is a story that takes the couple not only into the mysteries of the jungle but the mysteries of themselves. Nominally a horror film (the vinyan of the title are evil spirits) the film is actually something much different. Its a brooding meditation on love, loss and other things. Its a film filled with dread and uncertainty and an eerieness thats hard to shake. I was expecting a horror film of typical sort and instead I found a puzzle that I'm going to have to attempt again. I'm not sure what I really make of the film. Certainly the film is one of the most oppressively beautiful ones I've seen. The jungle is clearly the third lead character since it is in almost every frame of the film. The look of the film will haunt you. At the same time I kind of suspected where the film was going.Its a film that echoes other films (who's names I won't mention because that might reveal too much) which isn't to say that there is a problem with that, only that you may know what may lay at the end (which is what it has to be). I like the film, but at the same time I know I have to see it again because it was so not what I was expecting that I know it interfered with my feelings for it. Worth a look for those wanting off beat psychological horror.