Kindred

A pregnant young girl and her partner visit his mother to tell her they are moving to Australia. When the man is killed, the mother and the partner's brother seem to want to stop the girl from leaving.

Whilst the performances and the general tone are pretty good, this is a frustrating film. The girl, despite her desperation, continues to act quite irrationally throughout the film and it is unclear whether there may be something wrong with her. The much criticised ending is ok but a bit of a let down and continues with the notion that the film isn't sticking to the rules it has set itself. Lowden and particularly Shaw are very good and conveying the horror of no one believing you plus the potential threat to your baby is very real. So some, good tense drama, but ultimately a disappointment.

Okay, there's a plot, but not much of one.

The movie is like one of those rides at the carnival where people are hoisted several stories slowly, to then be dropped at an alarming speed, which I assume is meant to terrify all participants. Except in this case, it's a broken ride. So, some tension builds, a tad of excitement, somewhat slow (and you'd think they take this time of meandering "storyline" to actually provide much more background on the characters, so a viewer will come to care about character...but no, they don't)...and then! *THEN!* It goes nowhere.

I love Fiona Shaw. The men of the cast are pretty hot. Lead actress Tamara Lawrance (who I recently watch on public television's "The Long Song) is good. But with no performance could save this indie.

And nothing else worth to mention. Just a shallow, semi-thrilling plot that leads to nothing and leaves the viewer unsatisfied.

Low concept but incredibly elegant rehash of familiar territory.

From the very first moments one gets the feeling of a restrained, sinister story and it delivers. There's only so good this can be considering the story it's telling but the immense yet lonely manor house in the countryside makes a superb setting for this tale of a vulnerable person who doesn't whom she can trust and how much.

The handling of imagery and cinematography is masterful and hypnotic as we slow burn toward the darkness. At one point someone looks out the window at 90 degrees which doesn't work in context but that's just one error, it otherwise doesn't detract from the script but enriches it.

Stories like these, of obsessive traditional families can often go too far and just feel sensationalist. But every character here feels like a person and I admit I was questioning what I though was going on as we toe the line between alarm bells common paranoia.

I dare say one could say a couple of things about how we treat (pregnant) women and the mentally ill.

A creepy movie even if it isn't what you want to call a horror movie. I felt a little cheated by the end but the journey is admirable.

Which can be good with the right amount of girth, but unfortunately that is what the movie lacks. The suspense is enough to keep you curious throughout, but the pay-off is just so unsatisfying it left you feeling nothing. Thomas is a catch by the way.