Director: Ben Wheatley
Writers: Steve Oram, Alice Lowe, Amy Jump
Starring: Steve Oram, Alice Lowe, Jonathan Aris, Monica Dolan, Tony
Way, Richard Glover, Richard Lumsden
Plot: Chris (Oram) and Tina (Lowe) have only been dating three
months and the time has come for the pair to have a holiday together. They
embark on a journey around England to see the sights and visit museums.
However, the trip slowly evolves into a cross-country murder spree brought
about by Chris’ irritation with the general public and Tina’s desire to please
her boyfriend.
Americans rarely score with dark
comedies; those most critically acclaimed (Fear
and Loathing in Las Vegas, The
Frighteners, and God Bless America,
for example) are more cult hits than box office successes. Whilst the Americans
hesitate with showing their morbid side, the British revel in their
understanding and enjoyment of it. In the U.K the darkest comedies are usually
the most favoured and this adoration for the macabre allows for an influx of
this kind of material. It’s one of the reasons we so lovingly adopted Tim
Burton into our country, view Chris Morris as an iconic anti-hero and enable
someone like Ben Wheatley to carry on making films.
Attempt to navigate your way
through the musings of Mr. Wheatley and you will inevitably get caught and cut
on barbed wire. His twisted, sharp mind is a dangerous realm but still interesting
and amusing. His second feature, Kill
List, was an unforgettable mash-up of popular genres that highlighted a
knack for comedy and, most of all, horror and violence. His third film, Sightseers, may not have been penned by
the man himself but it has his style all over it.
Operatic in some senses (slow
motion rendering of tense moments – also seen in Kill List) with gory scenes of death blended with jokes you
shouldn’t laugh at but can do nothing but, are staples of what we have become
to know of Wheatley. There’s a charm to Wheatley’s unabashed way of viewing the
world – and giving his opinions on it (“He’s not a person...he’s a Daily Mail
reader”) – which is side-splitting now and then. Sightseers is wickedly funny but may prove too sinister for others.
There’s no doubt that the film
will divide audiences (as much as Kill
List did) as the black humour will either be guiltily pleasurable or
appalling for certain viewers. Some may be un-tickled by the bursts of
brutality that are graphic and unflinching yet beyond the bloodshed, however,
is a twee love-story that is authentic and sweet in some scenes. It is an
inviting film – wanting you to be entertained with the comedy and also the
romantic aspects (that can be bizarre at points) – although it may not succeed
completely as Wheatley’s odd approach to presenting these motifs can be
alienating to the general movie-going public.
Through the editing an uncanny
atmosphere is introduced that runs through until the end of film – masterful at
points but perhaps too weird for some viewers. Not totally finished with the
pagan fascination, Wheatley includes a sequence using a smart Eisensteinian
montage between a murder and a ritualistic sacrifice – the best indication of Sightseers’ puzzling panache.
The two lead characters are
additionally enigmatic – almost emotionally inebriated in some instances. Both
Chris and Tina are terrifically portrayed by Steve Oram and Alice Lowe, yet
have such hazy psychologies that the audience can never truly connect to them.
They are childlike to an extent, leaving them untrustworthy and petty on
occasion. The moral ambiguity of their actions is never resolved and whilst it
does not have to be, some inkling of how we are to perceive the two could help
with our conception of Sightseers’
chain of events. Despite these flaws, you cannot turn away from watching them –
whatever’s going through their mind it’s intriguing.
Strange at times, Sightseers will not be for everybody,
but for those captivated by the murderous road-trip (complete with some
beautiful shots of the English countryside) it will become another great
example of the darkest brand of British humour.
****
By Piers McCarthy. Also posted on LiveForFilms
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