Masterful Movie

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

This movie is an utter mess and pretty much one giant long awkward silence. The most boring thing I've ever seen, unless you're particularly entertained by one woman losing her mind over undercooked meat, a family being unable to decide where to sit in a restaurant, or some guy talking about how the height of his life's excitement is going to Africa to teach people about safe sex. The whole movie is a compilation of awkward moments and conversations you dread in your everyday life. Also, what even happened in this movie? I feel bad for the chef lady because I don't feel like she knows either. She's constantly being forced into awkward conversations and pulling random backstory out of her butt. Why did this movie happen.

Someone else noted 'Festen', a good reference point. The Joanna Hogg brand of social realism might work for a certain category of film festival attended by Guardian critics but small budget should not have to mean small impact. This was like being forced to watch Big Brother but the worse for having been duped into thinking that these witless, humourless, dunces might still break free from the great dollops of silence bolted on between one static camera shot and the next. The brief moment with that longing gaze at the carving knife as cook prepares to leave ...... that was the moment our long suffering and infinite patience might have been rewarded. Alas.

I've been around and spent time with the 'type' of people in Johanna Hogg's Isles of Scilly-set drama and there is that familiar dialogue; clipped, occasionally trite and with an efficient brevity. They live rather differently to me and like this film, I'm always just a little bit glad to get back to my own 'sort' after.Whilst I wasn't able to immerse myself in the story fully it does show that even the best bred, best intentioned families do have their emotions and crises and because, maybe, we're so used to only more 'normal' people swearing and shouting, that such folk don't. They tend to do it more privately, that's all.I can do slow - if you follow some of my favourite directors, slow is OK and admittedly this one brought my blood pressure down quite a few notches, the rather drab scenery and matt greyness of many of the interiors perhaps making a statement, or simply to hang the story on a blank canvas.Yes, it rolled on for nearly forever and whilst I'm sure (as is evident here, on IMDb) many found much to admire and appreciate, I won't be seeking a second viewing. I saw it on BBC2, very late.

I loved this film. It is an absolute deadpan satire, dry, wry and very sly. And it made me laugh out loud, which is quite unusual... I don't know how much of the dialogue is improvised, but it is spot-on. The performances are stunning and the lighting, camera-work and composition are beautiful. I love the way the camera keeps its distance for so much of film before moving in close. You could turn the sound off and just watch this film for the pleasure of the visuals alone.One reviewer mentioned Tarkovsky; comparisons are odious I know, but I just have to add that it reminded me of Antonioni – and for me it doesn't get any better than that.I'm surprised how many reviewers seem to miss the point of this film completely. For me, it was like those old Magic Eye pictures: you could of course look at it and not really see anything, but change your focus a little and this amazing hidden gem appears.It's not all subtle sarcastic send-up either, I think the picture has a real heart, and it's all the more moving when it is eventually revealed.Great moments? There are tons. Here are three: The Cook carefully wrapping up her knives, as much like a surgeon as a chef, dissection over perhaps, or time to stop the stabbing. The role of the Cook is excellent: the witness to it all, the presence of the director/writer perhaps. The hand puppet round the door is a brilliant scene, loaded, as is so much of this film. Christopher's lines to Edward who is looking at his painting, a quick look at the Blues, a statement of intent from the writer, a great bit of improv? It finishes: "I quite like that blue: Joyous". Cut. Superb.It is a real shame a film of this quality is rated 5-point-something. It's a great piece of work and it deserves proper recognition.If you hated this film I would urge you to watch it again; if you haven't seen it you really should.