Hinterland

This is an utterly beautiful meditation on contemporary friendship and a stunningly mature debut. Both Macqueen and Campbell are wonderfully natural - drawing us into their world with subtly and nuance. Hard to think of performances so uncluttered in recent times. Ben Hecking's cinematography is gorgeously composed and compliments the performances excellently. The film captures the wilds of Cornwall extremely evocatively both mysterious and intimate. It's a slow burner but a film made with intelligence and poise. It speaks for a generation usually without a voice in contemporary British culture. An incredibly important British feature film.

No spoilers here! The movie had a grip on my attention within the first ten minutes. If I had to use one word to sum it up, that would be wistful...there was an undercurrent of sadness throughout the movie. Not great tragedy, but a sense by the main characters that something was missing or absent in their lives.

I was intrigued by the minimalism throughout - no doubt as a result of an extremely tight budget. But it worked extremely effectively. I was very focused on the characters because there was no "big budget" distraction(aside from the glorious scenery).

Initially, I felt the ending was a little abrupt, but on reflection (and this is the kind of movie that makes you reflect) it actually encapsulated the worlds or the main characters...without the need for blatant explanation.

Having an interest in British films that show something different to the usual run down council estate set dramas, or cockney gangster sagas, I was immediately drawn to the premise of Hinterland, which promised a gentle tale. Two former childhood friends, a boy and a girl now in their twenties, who have a platonic relationship, revisiting their shared past during a couple of days spent at their old holiday home in Cornwall.

Having read some reviews of the film by critics, who almost all gave the film a respectable 3 out of 5 rating, I went into it not expecting too much, but I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw.

Having read the film being described as slight and insubstantial in almost all of the critical reviews of the film, I feel that they have missed the point somewhat, as on the surface this might appear to be the case, but there are definitely deeper emotions here between the two characters, which are expressed at times through the facial expressions of Harry Macqueen's character, Harvey, and which play themselves out by the actions of both characters at the end of the film.

To think that Hinterland was made on a budget of only £10,000, it's nothing short of amazing. There are some nicely composed shots, which utilise the Cornish coastal landscape well. The pace of the film is fairly slow, and scenes are allowed plenty of space and time to play themselves out, reminiscent of some of the films of the French new wave, and John Cassavetes, but despite these echoes, there is a definite British feel to the somewhat reserved emotions on display for the first three quarters of the film. There are also echoes of the British road movie, Radio On by Chris Petit, in the opening fifteen minutes or so of the film, as the characters make their way to the Cornish holiday home from their respective properties in London in Harvey's old Volvo car.

It's a very promising, and memorable, first film from the director Harry Macqueen, and it will be interesting to see what he could do with a bigger budget in the future. Recommended.

From the opening shot the film invites attention. We immediately feel drawn to the two characters and we sense how important it is that Harvey meets up with his old friend Lola. Harry Macqueen manages to convey longing , trepidation and hope without little dialogue. Both actors play their parts well and the setting is beautiful.

I particularly liked the ability to convey such a depth of emotion with no graphic demonstration of it. The camera work demonstrating where Harvey is thinking of Lola is very cleverly done

The film goes to show that you do not need big budgets, or even big story lines to captivate an audience. Good actors, directing , a lovely setting and beautiful camera work can achieve that.

This movie had me from the beginning. I didn't see the trailer prior to watching so didn't know what to expect.

The scenery gorgeous and the unspoken relationship between the 2 characters was easily understood. They both did wonderful acting to get the relationship across.

I loved the quiet scenes, you just know what each is thinking.

For a first movie on a small budget they did very quality work. Everything was smooth, loved hearing the sputter of the engine of the car and the little roads traveled.

Highly recommended for anyone wanting to kick back and relax to watch a lovely, well written, directed, graceful movie.