I'm just home from seeing this film at Sydney's Film Festival (2005) and have to say I was very impressed. It was especially rewarding to have the director (Richard Hawkins) in attendance for Q&A after the film.
The performances were captivating, the suspense was just right (you never lost interest but weren't overly stressed either) and the setting utterly believable. (NB: the locations were real, not sets).
The two main characters, although unusual, were validated by excellent dialogue and acting (Winstone and Graveson). And the story was interesting and very moving.
I always think the measure of a good film is when I'm not aware of the audience or the chair I'm sitting in. I'm happy to say I was oblivious to both.
On the downside, various jerky zooms reminded me that there was actually a camera involved and prevented complete immersion in the story outside of the storytelling. But it is nevertheless astonishingly impressive to see what a small budget ($47,500) and an enthusiastic writer/director can achieve in a 9 day shoot!
The performances were captivating, the suspense was just right (you never lost interest but weren't overly stressed either) and the setting utterly believable. (NB: the locations were real, not sets).
The two main characters, although unusual, were validated by excellent dialogue and acting (Winstone and Graveson). And the story was interesting and very moving.
I always think the measure of a good film is when I'm not aware of the audience or the chair I'm sitting in. I'm happy to say I was oblivious to both.
On the downside, various jerky zooms reminded me that there was actually a camera involved and prevented complete immersion in the story outside of the storytelling. But it is nevertheless astonishingly impressive to see what a small budget ($47,500) and an enthusiastic writer/director can achieve in a 9 day shoot!