I had the opportunity to watch this with the director in person at the local arthouse and I passed uo the chance, not seeing anything about the film that made me want to make the journey. Reading The Idler, the director gave an interview about his process which prompted me to give this a go.
While this film was somewhat what I expected, a kind of Ben Wheatleyish jaunt, it is not an engaging or satisfying watch.
The narrative is opaque and at times barely existent. It seems to be about a woman on a remote island there to observe flower growth. The biggest incident in the first third of the film is the woman runs out of tea. The next big incident is that she spots lichen growing on the flowers and then her. At this point she experiences visions of people who have died on the island. And that is as clear as anything gets because the narrative doesn't resolve. There are a few Garth Marhenghi type scenes which don't really make much sense and while I get this is meant to be lo-fi film making some of the zoom and panning shots are pretty shaky. There is a movement towards "analogue" movie and music making which is a backlash against the perfection of digital, but it doesn't automatically make something better. Particularly when the bar is already set so highly in terms of 1970's horror. However the thing about art is it almost doesn't matter what it is people create, someone somewhere will like it. For me this is something that would have made an interesting short with a better narrative, it doesn't sustain as a full length feature. Even if some of the cinematography was stunning. The problem is that if you expect someone to sit through a 90 min movie the viewer expects a payoff and this doesn't have one. Hence the many bad reviews.
While this film was somewhat what I expected, a kind of Ben Wheatleyish jaunt, it is not an engaging or satisfying watch.
The narrative is opaque and at times barely existent. It seems to be about a woman on a remote island there to observe flower growth. The biggest incident in the first third of the film is the woman runs out of tea. The next big incident is that she spots lichen growing on the flowers and then her. At this point she experiences visions of people who have died on the island. And that is as clear as anything gets because the narrative doesn't resolve. There are a few Garth Marhenghi type scenes which don't really make much sense and while I get this is meant to be lo-fi film making some of the zoom and panning shots are pretty shaky. There is a movement towards "analogue" movie and music making which is a backlash against the perfection of digital, but it doesn't automatically make something better. Particularly when the bar is already set so highly in terms of 1970's horror. However the thing about art is it almost doesn't matter what it is people create, someone somewhere will like it. For me this is something that would have made an interesting short with a better narrative, it doesn't sustain as a full length feature. Even if some of the cinematography was stunning. The problem is that if you expect someone to sit through a 90 min movie the viewer expects a payoff and this doesn't have one. Hence the many bad reviews.