After that first act, it was (almost) impossible to be as impactful for the rest of it's duration. There are other scenes that worked very well (gas station, the drifting car, tense dialogue in the car), but those deaths before the car journey will stay on my memory forever. It's very rare to be this surprised on a film these days, but this came absolutely from nowhere. Was it smart? I don't know. I would probably save it for a bit later, even if I understand the intentions.
The film is VERY tense and Gillies is absolutely perfect as the villain and a very interesting counterpoint to Luafutu (also great, but on a totally different role). However, what impressed me the most was the direction of James Ashcroft on his debut. He clearly knows what he is doing, from beautiful to unexpected plans (open plans, close-ups, doesn't matter, the guy seems an expert!), using colours and silence close to perfection, always with the help of a great score to tonally identify the situations.
I can't say that I'm totally convinced by the very ending - even if I loved all the open questions that we still have about "the encounter" - and I have some reservations about the acting of two main characters in the way they reacted to that episode on the first act (I am sorry, but as a parent, I would never react like that, there is nothing to lose anymore, just jump, scream, spit, bite, don't know, whatever!).
Either way, this a great debut and I believe a lot of people will revisit this film on the future when Ashcroft becomes a big name.
The film is VERY tense and Gillies is absolutely perfect as the villain and a very interesting counterpoint to Luafutu (also great, but on a totally different role). However, what impressed me the most was the direction of James Ashcroft on his debut. He clearly knows what he is doing, from beautiful to unexpected plans (open plans, close-ups, doesn't matter, the guy seems an expert!), using colours and silence close to perfection, always with the help of a great score to tonally identify the situations.
I can't say that I'm totally convinced by the very ending - even if I loved all the open questions that we still have about "the encounter" - and I have some reservations about the acting of two main characters in the way they reacted to that episode on the first act (I am sorry, but as a parent, I would never react like that, there is nothing to lose anymore, just jump, scream, spit, bite, don't know, whatever!).
Either way, this a great debut and I believe a lot of people will revisit this film on the future when Ashcroft becomes a big name.