This film is far from perfect, it suffers from a visibly low budget (the version I watched had such bad audio quality I could hardly make out what they were saying most of the time) and maybe being a tad too subtle for its own good. But having watched it for the second time, I've stopped seeing the lack of answers and clear plot points as a flaw, it's most likely an integral part of the director's vision.
Important information and dialogue is glossed over, so that you have to pay really close attention to catch every little detail in order to make sense of the bigger picture, in a kind of "show, don't tell" filmmaking that I found incredibly refreshing. What I like the most about this film is its underlying darkness, which seeps through the shots of beautiful countryside and accordeon-based soundtracks.
The story seems fairly straight-forward, a young married couple that is trying to have a baby receives a visit from the husband's younger brother. But from this simple dynamic some very dark subjects are explored.
This film's saving grace is the actors: Claire Foy as Dawn, the young wife is incredibly compelling in her role as the observer of the brothers' relationship, Benedict Cumberbatch is very subtle in his portrayal of David, the husband, who reveals a hidden darkness as the film progresses, and Shaun Evans is equally compelling as Nick, the younger brother who comes back from the war with PTSD and inserts himself in the couple's life, disrupting their peace but in the process also revealing David's true nature.
I thought the way the brothers' horrible childhood was revealed bit by bit and the way their relationship slowly reveals itself to be so twisted was brilliant, and an incredible study on trauma and on small communities.
It's a film I would recommend to anyone who likes movies which focus on character study and likes to pick apart the scenes to find hidden meanings, and also to people who like films set in rural England which unveil its unsettling, eerie side.
Important information and dialogue is glossed over, so that you have to pay really close attention to catch every little detail in order to make sense of the bigger picture, in a kind of "show, don't tell" filmmaking that I found incredibly refreshing. What I like the most about this film is its underlying darkness, which seeps through the shots of beautiful countryside and accordeon-based soundtracks.
The story seems fairly straight-forward, a young married couple that is trying to have a baby receives a visit from the husband's younger brother. But from this simple dynamic some very dark subjects are explored.
This film's saving grace is the actors: Claire Foy as Dawn, the young wife is incredibly compelling in her role as the observer of the brothers' relationship, Benedict Cumberbatch is very subtle in his portrayal of David, the husband, who reveals a hidden darkness as the film progresses, and Shaun Evans is equally compelling as Nick, the younger brother who comes back from the war with PTSD and inserts himself in the couple's life, disrupting their peace but in the process also revealing David's true nature.
I thought the way the brothers' horrible childhood was revealed bit by bit and the way their relationship slowly reveals itself to be so twisted was brilliant, and an incredible study on trauma and on small communities.
It's a film I would recommend to anyone who likes movies which focus on character study and likes to pick apart the scenes to find hidden meanings, and also to people who like films set in rural England which unveil its unsettling, eerie side.