Archipelago (2010)
Country: GB
Technical: col 114m
Director: Joanna Hogg
Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Kate Fahy, Lydia Leonard, Amy Lloyd, Christopher Baker
Synopsis:
An upper-middle-class family gathers on the Isles of Scilly, to rekindle memories of youth before the son embarks on a year of health volunteering in Africa. The father is notable for his absence; he is replaced by a sage artist character who teaches the mother water colours; and a disconsolate cook goes about her work between roll-ups. As the vacation ensues, resentments rise to the surface, like so many cross-currents separating them in a, you know, that strung-out island thingy.
Review:
Pretentiously titled hogwash, like Woody Allen's Interiors, full of long-held shots pregnant with meaning, such as a net curtain flapping in the breeze from a left open window, and airless dialogue, presumably demonstrating how the class in question can talk about colour tangents in painting but cannot communicate more meaningfully together (though they say 'fuck' a lot, which means they're old money). The cinematography is consumer standard, lacking in grain, depth and resolution (ironically for a film that alludes to colour so much), and the performers barely merit a close-up, whole scenes being observed in long shot by one fixed camera. A restaurant scene exudes embarrassment just as it speaks to the daughter's own controlling need, but a later off-screen argument between her and her mother is rendered meaningless as we cannot distinguish one voice from the other. Presumably it is about our all being caught in our private traps, something the trauma of family holidays has a knack of bringing out, but it is hard to fathom why the critical fraternity queued up to praise it so, since it is utterly undistinguished in every department. That said, you will come away knowing a lot more about lobster and pheasant preparation.
Country: GB
Technical: col 114m
Director: Joanna Hogg
Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Kate Fahy, Lydia Leonard, Amy Lloyd, Christopher Baker
Synopsis:
An upper-middle-class family gathers on the Isles of Scilly, to rekindle memories of youth before the son embarks on a year of health volunteering in Africa. The father is notable for his absence; he is replaced by a sage artist character who teaches the mother water colours; and a disconsolate cook goes about her work between roll-ups. As the vacation ensues, resentments rise to the surface, like so many cross-currents separating them in a, you know, that strung-out island thingy.
Review:
Pretentiously titled hogwash, like Woody Allen's Interiors, full of long-held shots pregnant with meaning, such as a net curtain flapping in the breeze from a left open window, and airless dialogue, presumably demonstrating how the class in question can talk about colour tangents in painting but cannot communicate more meaningfully together (though they say 'fuck' a lot, which means they're old money). The cinematography is consumer standard, lacking in grain, depth and resolution (ironically for a film that alludes to colour so much), and the performers barely merit a close-up, whole scenes being observed in long shot by one fixed camera. A restaurant scene exudes embarrassment just as it speaks to the daughter's own controlling need, but a later off-screen argument between her and her mother is rendered meaningless as we cannot distinguish one voice from the other. Presumably it is about our all being caught in our private traps, something the trauma of family holidays has a knack of bringing out, but it is hard to fathom why the critical fraternity queued up to praise it so, since it is utterly undistinguished in every department. That said, you will come away knowing a lot more about lobster and pheasant preparation.
Country: GB
Technical: col 114m
Director: Joanna Hogg
Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Kate Fahy, Lydia Leonard, Amy Lloyd, Christopher Baker
Synopsis:
An upper-middle-class family gathers on the Isles of Scilly, to rekindle memories of youth before the son embarks on a year of health volunteering in Africa. The father is notable for his absence; he is replaced by a sage artist character who teaches the mother water colours; and a disconsolate cook goes about her work between roll-ups. As the vacation ensues, resentments rise to the surface, like so many cross-currents separating them in a, you know, that strung-out island thingy.
Review:
Pretentiously titled hogwash, like Woody Allen's Interiors, full of long-held shots pregnant with meaning, such as a net curtain flapping in the breeze from a left open window, and airless dialogue, presumably demonstrating how the class in question can talk about colour tangents in painting but cannot communicate more meaningfully together (though they say 'fuck' a lot, which means they're old money). The cinematography is consumer standard, lacking in grain, depth and resolution (ironically for a film that alludes to colour so much), and the performers barely merit a close-up, whole scenes being observed in long shot by one fixed camera. A restaurant scene exudes embarrassment just as it speaks to the daughter's own controlling need, but a later off-screen argument between her and her mother is rendered meaningless as we cannot distinguish one voice from the other. Presumably it is about our all being caught in our private traps, something the trauma of family holidays has a knack of bringing out, but it is hard to fathom why the critical fraternity queued up to praise it so, since it is utterly undistinguished in every department. That said, you will come away knowing a lot more about lobster and pheasant preparation.