Reviews

But the beautiful moments rise so high that this film will live long in the memory.

There are many allegories in the film - people talk about seeing red fish in the river (blood of the dead?), the Hives that the missing husband built are somewhat recreated when our main character decides to start a bustling business selling jars of red pepper in her home.

It's a really great concept (another of those film within a film films, possibly even a hyperlink film) and has so much subtext flowing through it, mostly to do with life choices, morals, lost love etc - which makes Bergman himself the perfect accompaniment for some of the multi layered themes, give...

It is Alex Camilleris debut film, which is remarkable given the direction.

This is my film of the year so far, and is one of the best new films I've seen for a long, long time.

But it feels like the Director is asking the viewer to ask ourselves about the entire existence of the human race and our planet, what makes humans what they are, does our society need religion, violence and misery etc etc - and he does it successfully as it's such an intriguing, beguiling film.

It's also (sickeningly) the Director's feature debut (Laura Wandel), and you'd be forgiven for thinking this is a film made by a more accomplished director like fellow Belgians the Dardenne brothers for instance.

Julie's struggles at film school are delved into even more in part 2 and the meta becomes even more meta as we see director Joanna Hogg dissect her own past in ways that just leave the viewer jaw dropped (it takes the film within a film vibe to the extreme).

The choice to shoot in black and white gives the film a nostalgic feel, like it's someone's diary we are watching play out.

At the 90 minute mark it gets a little more weighty with subplots that are both moving and poignant and starts to feel alot more European, perhaps like a Ruben Ostlund film.