Brit flicks eh? What a load of rubbish they are. If they’re not being all gritty and realistic about poor people, it’s some posh twit in a romantic comedy. Mostly the former though it seems. I can do without it. Why are they so obsessed with these ‘real life’ films here? Why is there never much in the way of iimaginitive fantastcal thinking here? Is it a budget thing? Is it just easy? Is it considered the right thing to do? Anyway it seems to have gone a bit wrong in this case.
The two suited chaps that do the investigations, thingy and thingy.
Skeletons is a bit different you see. Well. A lot different. It’s quite definitely one of the most imaginitive and fantastical ‘Brit Flicks’ I’ve ever seen. It’s also one of the best looking. Rarely have I seen the English countryside framed so captivatingly. But I’m kind of geting ahead of myself, let me take you back to where this all began.
I heard about the film through Mark KERmode and Simon Mayo’s Wittertainment films show on Radio 5. It sounded reasonably interesting and it was suppoed to be a bit surreal. So when the opportunity to go see it and get a Q&A with the director afterwards arrived at the Sheffield Showroom cinema, I HAD to go. To be honest though, I tend not to really like Kermode’s favourites and this being a Brit Flick undoubtedly made it a bit rubbish. Especially as it was also supposedly a comedy (which it sort of is and sort of isn’t). I feared the worst and nearly didn’t go in the end due to running late. But I did. Within the first 5 minutes of it I knew I had made the right decision.
The opening shots of two suited oddballs walking along without the camera constantly cutting between them had me knowing this was going to be special. Modern cinema is so guitly of hyperactive over eager editing that I’ve come to reluctantly accept it as the norm and stop complaining about it. So instead I must champion something such as this which allows the viewer to settle into the company of the two people with whom we are walking. The film subtly draws you in without giving you the slightest clue as to what is really going off. You know they’re going somewhere to do something but you don’t know what.
A fine example of the stunning cinematography
It’s something the film does very well, having things happening which don’t seem to necessarily make much sense to you but yet allows you to accept them as just what they do. Which so happens to be the revealing of people’s secrets via visiting and living out their recent history via use of a cupboard and strange deviced. But that’s by the by. What they are doing and how is not the most important factor. Because it’s all about the people. Obviously.
The central focus of the film is the job of finding the lost husband of a woman living a somewhat isolationary existence with her son and daighter. Though 9 years had gone by she’d never stopped looking. Which is what we’re really looking at in this film. Clinging onto a past that has long gone and not moving on. One our suited chaps is addicted to going into his own childhood to a fond memory involving his lost parents rather than focusing on the here and now. Its through these elements that film gets its biggest emotional pull, especially toward some of the later scenes.
Jane, the slightly mad but lovely 'woman'
The woman in question is played by Danish actress Paprika Steen who captures such delightful obsession, desperation, hope and eccentricity in her performance. You see a woman whose nerves have been frayed and is only kept together by her daily search for the husband who disappeared without a trace. She also has a teenage daughter (who is 21) who has been a mute for several years.
This daughter is played by the delightful and characterful Tuppence Middleton who is more expressive as a mute than most actresses you’ll see on the screen these days. She plays quite a significant role in the film but I don’t want to go into it as much as I’d like because I don’t want to be spoilering anything.
Tuppence being lovely
There’s much in this film that will remind you of Inception should you have seen that. You may also think it’s a bit like Existenz. Or maybe Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind. Or maybe even Ghostbusters. Even a bit of Pulp Fiction can be seen to be there. The film takes the best elements of many of cinema history and blends it with the stage, which is undoubtedly from where the less hectic feeling has come. But in taking such diverse elements something new has been created that is utterly astonishing and captivating. Unlike Inception, which for me seemed to be largely an excuse for a few action sequences linked by a bit of a gimmick.
This film to me seemed to be more about feelings and achived an incredible amount on an extremely limited budget. From what I’ve been able to determine, said budget was around £400,000 and funded by the National Lottery, Scott Films and EM film or something. Quite an achievement compared to Inception’s $200 million budget. Especially had the talent of (hello to) Jason Isaacs involved as well.
Hello to Jason Isaacs!
There’s more I could say about it being about forming new bonds to replace old ones but I’ve gone on at huge length about this already and I don’t want to try your patience. Much as director Nick Whitfield said in the Q&A aftwerwards “You don’t usually go to see [a film or stage play] and say ‘It was alright but it was a bit short’ do you?”. This film was a perfect 94 minutes of gorgeous visuals (entirely through camera placement, not effects), involving editing (courtesy of Rachel Tunnard) and sharp witty script.
It’s the best film I’ve seen this year. Possibly for a few years actually come to think of it. See it if you can. Screenings are limited but have a look here to see when it might be nearby. Failure to see this on the big screen would be a real shame. It needs that big screen and uses it to the full.
All images taken from the offical site (which they hopefully won’t mind) and are all by Chris Harris
