Hoard

Hoard is a 2023 Semi-Biographical exploration of unprocessed grief and its potential long term effect on an adolescent.

It's the feature film debut of Luna Carmoon whose 2020 short film Shagbands I watched prior to Hoard. Both Shagbands and Hoard are gritty dramas taking place in the east end of London with a theme of growing up as a young girl in an area of deprivation. Where Hoard differs however is in its use of surrealist techniques in a few of the scenes. Arguably the easiest thing to write about is your own life but it's in the more surrealist moments where the lines between reality and fiction are blurred. This both helped to keep me on the edge of my seat as a viewer but also added to the main characters sense of confusion and dread as parts of her childhood memories start to come back to her.

The film spends a good 30 minutes at the start introducing us to a young Maria (around eight years old) and her mother Cynthia. The pair clearly have a deep bond however Cynthia has a severe hoarding problem and it takes a toll on Maria's school life. Half an hour of set up may seem excessive to some however it's crucial to the rest of the narrative that you buy into the two characters strong connection.

Fast forward a few years and now 16 year old Maria is living with her foster mother. All seems well until another previously fostered child (now an adult) Michael comes back to stay. The pair develop a relationship the type of which Maria hasn't felt since the relationship she had with her mother. This brings up a whole host of emotions that the majority of us would struggle to deal with, let alone a 16 year old.

If I had any criticisms it's that the film tries to do so much that it couldn't possibly manage to answer all the questions that I had by the time the credits rolled.

Oh and fair warning there is a Saltburn esc yucky scene.

That being said, Hoard is a striking debut that has a very real and emotional backbone and is levelled off with this surrealist, visually intriguing style. Luna Carmoon is definitely a director with a big future.

I enjoyed every second of it so why would I rate it lower? I understood everything I saw and I understood the character of Maria and the way grief worked on her and made her do certain things. Joseph looked absolutely scrumptious. I guess you either really like it or really hate it there's no in between.

It will turn out to be a visceral nightmare for anyone with OCD, so it's best to keep your distance.

Now keeping my courteous forewarning aside, this just didn't hit the mark for me, even though I get what they were trying to do, and what they have had in their minds.

A lot of it comes down to the inefficient execution which focuses way too much on visuals and forgets to build a strong emotional groundwork.

Even though I like their intent to highlight 'hoarder disorder' and them providing a voice to those affected by it.

But the real question is, did the story do enough to foster compassion for people dealing with such issues? Or at least help others understand their off-beat mindset better?

I don't think so.

Young Maria (Lily-Beau Leach) has a close relationship with her mother Cynthia (Hayley Squires) in 1980s London. Cynthia is a single mother who is a hoarder and has embroiled her young daughter in her obsession. When Cynthia is killed by a collapsing pile of rubbish Maria is sent to live with a foster mother called Michelle (Samantha Spiro). Ten years later the now teenage Maria (Saura Lightfoot Leon) establishes an intense, obsessive relationship with another of Michelle's foster children called Michael (Joseph Quinn), who is now a grown man, and who also happens to be a bin man. Writer/director Luna Carmoon's 2023 debut feature film is an edgy, visceral psychological drama dealing with the legacy of the past, memory and childhood, the traumas and obsessions of life, and coping mechanisms (such as hoarding) for the emotional pain of loss (you wonder about Cynthia). With references to 'Last Tango in Paris' and 'The Tin Drum', as well as a sitting room 'bullfight', this is daring stuff (at least for a post 1970s world) made by a new female writer/director prospect.

An examination of trauma, this film is relentlessly tense as the vulnerability of the main characters means they're constantly on the edge. It left me asking questions of the effect of trauma on relationships and the individual, which I suspect was the aim.

The actors carry themselves faultless, the breakout young star a particular highlight, though the script falls flat a few times. The direction is stupendous - the way they turn a hot iron in to a menacing, predatory presence was a favourite of mine

Sometimes it's incoherent which makes the film difficult to follow scene by scene, and can fall in to itself, but the intensity never abides and all you really want is for these damaged people to turn out OK.