Unrelated (Hogg, 2008) & Archipelago (Hogg, 2010):
BFI Southbank NFT2 6.30pm & Studio 8.50pm
These films are screening as part of the Made in Britain season at BFI Southbank. The first in their new annual series is dedicated to contemporary British cinema focuses on women filmmakers with a bold approach to cinematic form and a tangible, demonstrated vision. Full details of the season here. Tonight offers cinemagoers a great chance to catch celebrated British director Joanna Hogg's two features.
Jigsaw Lounge website review of Unrelated by Tribune film critic Neil Young:
'This is easily one of the most accomplished and unmissable new releases of 2008: a simple, supremely well-observed story of ordinary human emotions, with performances and dialogue that are, from the first scene to the last, painfully accurate and convincing. Shot in and around Sienna, it's primarily a detailed character-study of Anna (Worth), a mousy woman in her early forties who's experiencing unspecified marital problems. Keen to escape the stresses of home, she visits her long-time best pal Verena (Mary Roscoe) – who's holidaying in a well-appointed villa with her husband, children and some family friends. Feeling awkward among the dull, bourgeois adults, Anna gravitates towards the party's younger members – rapidly, and unwisely, allowing herself to become smitten with flirtatious, twentyish Oakley (Hiddleston). Shot on digital video on what was clearly a minimal budget,Unrelated shows just what can be achieved with the most limited and unpromising means. Hogg clearly has very intimate, first-hand knowledge of the specific social strata she is exploring and dramatising here, and the result is one of those rare works where we feel more like casual eavesdroppers than detached spectators. She's already working on her follow-up – and if this stunning debut (which has inspired comparisons with established masters such as Michael Haneke and Eric Rohmer) is any sort of guide, Hogg may develop into one of the major names in British cinema over the next few years.'
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Time Out review of Archipelago:
'In ‘Archipelago’, the pretty landscapes of Siena give way to the brooding, changing landscapes of a tiny island in the Isles of Scilly. Patricia (Kate Fahy) and her two children, young adults Edward (Tom Hiddleston) and Cynthia (Lydia Leonard), arrive for a break at a holiday cottage. As rain and wind lash against the windows, Patricia grows exasperated at the absence of her husband, who remains an unheard voice on the phone. Good-natured Edward struggles to hide his angst at where his life is heading and assumes a fatherly role while becoming weirdly familiar with Rose (Amy Lloyd), the family’s hired cook. Cynthia, meanwhile, looms like a dark cloud and snaps and lashes out for no clear reason. Hogg draws another strong performance from Hiddleston, who plays a very different character from the ballsy recent school leaver in ‘Unrelated’, but again elicits internal screams of horror at his inappropriate relationship with someone outside his gang and over whom he holds a power he may not perceive. Most of all, ‘Archipelago’ confirms Hogg as a daring and mischievous artist, and a major British talent whose next move will be intriguing.'
Dave Calhoun
Here is the trailer.
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