sherbetbizarre
Special Branch
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2004
- Messages
- 5,097
From Mark Jenkins, director of Bait (2019)
Men: Disturbing is putting it mildly, The Green Man, Sheela na Gig, birth and rebirth, a pub with stranger patrons than those in The Wicker Man. Pretty good but even after two viewings I'm still not sure if I understand it fully. Harper (Jessie Buckley) has recently witnessed the death of her husband, how it happened and the events leading up to it are gradually revealed as the narrative unfolds. she takes a break, renting a Manor House from Geoffrey (Rory Kinnear) who is every inch a the country squire. He is odd, a touch creepy even but in comparison with the other men from the village who Harper meets over the next couple of days. A judgmental gas-lighting vicar; a strange, verbally abusive boy; an inept, uncaring policeman; odd yokel locals in the pub and a naked man who seems to be stalking her. This last character is the most important as he displays aspects of The Green Man.
An atmosphere of threat runs through the film rising to crescendos of existential terror at various stages but the finale blends terror with scenes that some will find disturbing as it explores themes of birth, death and rebirth, a cycle which may end with redemption and forgiveness or a burying of the hatchet. Building towards that denouement we encounter a baptismal font in the local church with a Green Man on one side and a Sheela na Gig on the other and a scene in which a tunnel on an abandoned railway line which provides some remarkable cinematography and sound effects. Rory Kinnear plays all of the male roles (apart from Harper's husband, Paapa Essiedu), using a variety of minimal disguises, exuding toxicities of slightly differing types. An enigmatic but important addition to the English Folk Horror Film Canon., written and Directed by Alex Garland. 8/10.
In cinemas.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/dec/27/mark-jenkin-interview-enys-men‘I like films that take you into the woods – then leave you there’ – the beguiling folk-horror of Mark Jenkin
The Bafta-winning writer, director and composer discusses exploring the dark side of Cornwall in his latest film, Enys Men
Sorcery: On the remote island of Chiloé in the late 19th century, an Indigenous girl named Rosa lives and works with her father on a farm. When the foreman brutally turns on Rosa’s father, she sets out for justice, seeking help from the king of a powerful organization of sorcerers.
Just watched the 2022 Norwegian horror Viking Wolf on Netflix.
It all kicks off some years before the Norman Conquest, when Vikings returning to Scandinavia from Normandy, bring what the sagas describe as a hell-hound back with them.
Fast forward almost a thousand years and a teenage beach party (Scandi-style) somewhere in Norway is rudely interrupted by a particularly gory murder.
Police chief Liv Mjönes (you'll recognise her from Midsommer) investigates and, as the body count starts to rise, slowly begins to accept that those ancient sagas may have some truth behind them. Worse still, her own daughter seems to be in the middle of it all.
Borrowing very heavily from An American Werewolf in London, with a few hat-tips to Jaws thrown in, Viking Wolf is a competent, but far from original take on the time-honoured lycanthrope theme.
Tying the action into ancient Viking folklore was the one glimmer of originality here, but I knew pretty well what was going to happen next and I'm sure you will too.
A minor keep-you-guessing conundrum in the finale just about makes it worthwhile staying the 97 minute course.
6/10 from me.
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The old hunter was basically Quint from Jaws, wasn't he?I liked it, especially the wolf/werewolf as the havoc it caused. Also the old hunter who had been tracking it for years. I'd be a bit kinder and give it 7/10