I love this movie so much

Simply A Masterpiece

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

I can fully understand the majority of film watchers being a bit bored by this, and its fine, were all different in our thoughts and observations, I would never accuse them of sarcastically 'needing' more explosions/gun battles action etc to satisfy their requirements as I think any art is subjective and any opinion is valid. I wasn't bored at all, in fact I was absorbed by this movie, nothing happens, except an examination of family life, on an angst ridden and tension filled family holiday. Immature yet grown up children, with Edward taking the limelight, the overly needy sister playing up most of the time like some spoilt child, and poor slightly neurotic Mum trying her best to keep it all together, in the absence of a Father who couldn't (or didn't want to) get there. The scenery gives a lot of atmosphere, its a tad bleak (wonder why they didn't go in summer?) The Scilly Isles in November was perfect for the slightly gloomy and foreboding atmosphere. The self obsessed artist Chris tries to understand what is going on but keeps himself snug and warm in his own arty avant-garde pretensions. Its not a movie for everyone and if you hate it fair enough, but if you like slower pedestrian films that examine human relationships, if you can let yourself be drawn into their world, then I recommend you try it. I will be re-watching it.

A fretful Englishwoman joins her fragile adult children at a familiar vacation spot, a guesthouse on Tresco in the Scilly Isles, for a feast of locally caught lobster, locally shot pheasant and painfully awkward smalltalk. There's plenty of drama, but not much plot in the usual sense. My wife and I didn't get much out of Joanna Hogg's latest film, "Exhibition," but this one, from 2010, was weirdly involving from start to finish. The troubles of this trio of gentlefolk (including Tom Hiddleston, the reason we decided to watch this film in the first place) may not amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world, but the way the camera lingers after a character's left the room or climbed a staircase, the dim interior light, even the birdsong and dreamlike landscapes (from glacial boulders to spiky subtropical palms) all contribute to the atmosphere of tension and expectancy. The title "Archipelago" might refer to the Scilly Isles (of which there are over a hundred) but also, I'm guessing, to the characters in this film, who are linked by blood and memory but isolated from one another by some pretty rough currents. (There's a big framed photo, "Storm off Tierra del Fuego," hanging over the mantelpiece when they arrive at the guesthouse; it makes them uneasy and they take it down.) Fans of Alan Ayckbourn and Edward Gory, as well as Vinterberg and Haneke, might want to take a chance on this one. Tom Hiddleston fans might stop to consider whether this wussy, neurotic, self-doubting Tom Hiddleston is the Tom Hiddleston they first fell in love with

Well, this is my first review, and, sadly, it's for an "awful" film (ie I rated it 1 out of 10). But therein lies a message: it's so bad that I felt compelled to go through the lengthy registering procedure at IMDb in order to tell you this. It really is that bad.OK, here, in a nutshell, is my reason: "Archipelago" is very, veeery boring. Just as well I watched it via the BBC's iPlayer, because that allowed me to 'fast-forward' the film to see if anything actually happens - but nothing did. Nothing.I think it would've been really easy to make this film entertaining and the Scilly Isles beautiful. But I can only assume the actors played their characters as intended and the atmosphere was meant to be like the weather: cold, wet and windy.However, I will say this: please do watch some of "Archipelago", I imagine about a quarter of an hour's worth should do, to experience cinematic depression. Then, like me, you might find yourself shaking your head in disbelief...

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.