It Is in Us All

If you loved "Call Me By Your Name," don't see this film. If you don't know what an abattoir is, don't see this film. If you know the difference between the movies in the MCU and the DCU, don't see this film. Film does several different things incredibly well. One is the quiet psychological portrait. To do so most effectively requires very tight writing, excellent acting, and compelling visuals. This film has all three, in spades. Cosmo Jarvis gives what should be a career defining bravura performance as the bottled up, confused, privileged, protagonist. He is beautiful and sexy very much in a Tom Hardy way, but if Hardy can act at this level, I've never seen it. Hid physical presence and charisma are used subtly in the film to partly drive the plot. Anyway, all that happens in this movie is life, disaffection, heartbreak, and a tiny tiny bit of redemption in appreciating the world and people around us. There are multiple similarities with the 1997 film Hamam, but more sparce and haunting.

Upon completing my watch of this indecipherable, preposterous cinematic mess, I couldn't help but come away from it asking myself, "What the hell did I just watch?" Writer-director Antonia Campbell-Hughes's debut narrative feature is so "nuanced" as to be utterly vague and patently incoherent. I probably gave this one more than sufficient benefit of the doubt while screening it, awaiting a payoff (or even a half-hearted rational explanation) come movie's end, but no such luck. The meandering, improbable screenplay of this unfocused tale about a car accident victim who becomes inexplicably fixated about a younger uninjured survivor from the same incident makes virtually no sense, jumping from one ostensibly random situation to another without seeming rhyme or reason, much of it padded with repetitive extraneous shots of the rural windswept Irish landscape. What's more, it's puzzling why this offering was selected as a featured presentation for an LGBTQ+ film festival, given that there are almost no references to the protagonist's sexuality or the gay community at large. It truly boggles my mind how reviewers have praised this incomprehensible exercise in ill-conceived, poorly executed celluloid self-indulgence. Avoid this one at all costs.

Hamish has a full head on collision, not his fault, but could have moved with more precision, leaves him with a broken arm, he later fixes with alarm, and some gaffa tape with very high adhesion. He's in Ireland to sell off his dead Aunt's home, while he's there he gets to wander and to roam, meeting up with some young guys, whose car crash friend instantly died, he seems to be in some lost world that's full of gloam. Not even the exceptionally talented Cosmo Jarvis can raise this slow burn from its dying embers as he portrays a person you will find it difficult to align your own reality with and find any common ground.

Reading through some of the suspiciously high ratings here does reveal a theme of trying to paint this film as arthouse surrealism with nuanced and hidden messaging but it seems to be rather insulting to intelligent audiences and it may work with some but the majority will see it for what it is, a badly written and badly directed project which is redeemed in part by a good lead actor and beautiful location. All of which cannot however, redeem the attempts to pitch this as a gay movie, which seems an afterthought that should have been left at just a thought. Why, because anyone setting out to make a gay film could do better, way bettter and likely would do better. The director/writer also appears in this as an actor and doesn't lift the film in any way and should have probably stopped short of a complete vanity project. I would have rated this slightly higher were it not for the blatant pumped up reviews spouting rubbish analogies. The blurb suggests a daliance between the main protagonist and a lad who is highly sexed apparently. Nothing happens, nothing but shared grief and realisation of loss. I heard it was shown at LGBTQ film festivals and to be frank, it's impossible to see why. There is more physical contact between the main character and a cow than anyone else and that was a light petting in a shed. There is a hint at some attraction but it does smack of baiting an audience who might find Cosmo, who was great in Calm with Horses as a good choice to play a gay man, but he doesn't seem to think he is in this film and its probably best given the immaturity and bizarre writing attached to the other character: Certain written behaviors that don't make sense and wouldn't happen in real life, so they just come across as made up for effect rather than substance. The lead actor, Cosmo is good, supporting cast is ok with moments, particularly efforts at crying which were bad, cringe. It would have been better to cut them out. Overall, it's essentially about nothing much, even the beautiful scenery is not the best of what Donegal has to offer and they could have shown more. There are stunning vistas everywhere you turn in Donegal and the production wasted that in my view, settling on repetitive shots along roadways.

How could a film made in Ireland go wrong? Fantastic vistas, vibrant, intelligent people, whose GNP is going up almost daily, and a great plot about a manic depressive who is suicidal. Wait, there was just something a bit off in that last sentence. Oh, I know. Who in the world would think that kind of plot would draw more than flies for audiences? What a complete waste of film and time. The pace of the film is so slow, it was almost convincing me to join the suicidal star in his quest for self-destruction. Fortunately, I had obtained a free large portion of nachos and cheese, along with a large coke, so I was occupied with something that was actually enjoyable; unlike this pretentious piece of kaka of a film.

Hamish has a full head on collision, not his fault, but could have moved with more precision, leaves him with a broken arm, he later fixes with alarm, and some gaffa tape with very high adhesion. He's in Ireland to sell off his dead Aunt's home, while he's there he gets to wander and to roam, meeting up with some young guys, whose car crash friend instantly died, he seems to be in some lost world that's full of gloam. Not even the exceptionally talented Cosmo Jarvis can raise this slow burn from its dying embers as he portrays a person you will find difficult to align your own reality with and find any common ground.

Not sure what sort of person would either make or watch this movie. A manic depressive? A suicidal, basket case? On the plus side, Ireland looks OK, I guess. Although it is filmed in muted tones and at night!? I am sure some 'clever' person will talk about the 'message' of the movie but it is an interminable slog to get to the end of this uneventful , borefest. Not sure what sort of person would either make or watch this movie. A manic depressive? A suicidal, basket case? On the plus side, Ireland looks OK, I guess. Although it is filmed in muted tones and at night!? I am sure some 'clever' person will talk about the 'message' of the movie but it is an interminable slog to get to the end of this uneventful , borefest.

If you loved "Call Me By Your Name," don't see this film. If you don't know what an abattoir is, don't see this film. If you know the difference between the movies in the MCU and the DCU, don't see this film. Film does several different things incredibly well. One is the quiet psychological portrait. To do so most effectively requires very tight writing, excellent acting, and compelling visuals. This film has all three, in spades. Cosmo Jarvis gives what should be a career defining bravura performance as the bottled up, confused, privileged, protagonist. He is beautiful and sexy very much in a Tom Hardy way, but if Hardy can act at this level, I've never seen it. Hid physical presence and charisma are used subtly in the film to partly drive the plot. Anyway, all that happens in this movie is life, disaffection, heartbreak, and a tiny tiny bit of redemption in appreciating the world and people around us. There are multiple similarities with the 1997 film Hamam, but more sparce and haunting.