Director: Kemal Yildirim
Year: 2020
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Psychological
Plot:
Living alone in a remote cottage, a lonely woman mourning the loss of her relationship with her lover begins to battle her personal demons while dealing with the sudden emergence of her ailing father into her life, which soon starts her spiraling into a bizarre form of self-destruction.
Review:
There was a lot to like with this effort. The main aspect to like here is the central build-up offering a tense, multi-layered relationship at the center of the film. The fact that so much of the film is based on the series of interpersonal relationships that take place here, from seeing how she becomes trapped in a cycle of personally-inflicted mental and physical abuse that comes about due to her father's history of tearing the family apart and being alone from her old boyfriend, drives this one quite nicely. Seeing this take it's toll on her as the movie goes along to where there's a strong balance between how she has to deal with his reemergence due to his illness forcing him to rely on her to stay alive which causes the need to rekindle the destructive romance to get away from that situation causes some genuinely bleak emotional vies that continually spiral out-of-control towards the downbeat ending. Bolstered with truly exceptional technical qualities that demonstrate stand-out filmmaking tactics and stellar acting across the board from the three leads, this one carries quite a lot to it.
The film does manage to stumble only slightly when it gets to the core of the relationships between the three individuals. It tends to revel far too much in excessive backstories for everyone that tends to make for a crowded storyline that doesn't need to be there, where the simple-minded nature of her main struggle to keep a semblance of her sanity could've been accomplished without all the excess attached. Her isolation from society is a great ploy, but added onto it the strained family history with tons of twists and turns as well as the need to rekindle the disastrous relationship for her carnal desires serve to bog the film down and overcrowd each other unnecessarily. Trimming out some of the overwhelmingly excessive storylines to let the story settle easier wouldn't have been the worst part here, as most of them aren't even explored much anyway or have an impact on the film as a whole so it's a bit of an issue but is nowhere near as detrimental or damaging as it could've been.
Overview: ***.5/5
A strong and introspective drama that manages to feel bleak and oppressive while still wholly engaging overall, there's so much to like here for fans of this kind of film that it serves quite well in most areas. Really go for this if you're a fan of the bleak, emotionally-draining dramas or of the creative crew, while viewers wanting more uplifting fare should heed caution here.
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