User reviews

This is a hugely impressive debut by writer/director Joanna Hogg. It is an uncomfortably realistic film in that you feel at times that you are being a voyeur and eavesdropper at real events. That the characters are so realistic is a tribute to Hogg's skills and to the quality of the actors. In that respect I was reminded of Mike Leigh who also makes movies that really do seem to intrude upon and depict the real world. In a sense, of course, not all of us go to see movies to see life at its most real and (in this case) in the raw. There is nothing escapist or improbable about the unfolding of events in Unrelated nor are any of the characters unlikely depictions either. More's the pity for a more ghastly bunch of arrogant, insular, selfish sons and daughters of privilege it would be hard to find. Not too hard actually in honesty for this type of English man and woman is all too commonly seen in the leafy suburbs and the Tory Blue counties. Here they are summering in Tuscany with a holiday lifestyle as empty as it is privileged. So empty that they resort to infantile games to pass the time between meals and indulge in banter that suggests that they have libraries in inverse proportion to their wealth – which is considerable.

There are two main themes. First the battle between the "olds" the forty-something adults and the younger set in their late teens. Key conflict is that between George, a prosperous prat with a high regard for himself and a low regard for his son Oakley with whom he has an alpha-male contest. The second theme is that of the lonely, confused and menopausal visitor Anna and how she relates as something of an outsider to the rest of the party. She is going through a crisis with her husband who was supposed to accompany her to Italy but who in the end stays at home. Does she want to leave him, he her or do they both want a new start or to "try again"? The unfolding of this happens as we listen in to one side, Anna's, of a series of stressed mobile phone conversations. Anna is clearly something of a "poor relation" to the main characters who are wealthier and for self-assured than she is – albeit in a repulsively conceited way. This applies especially to Oakley who is attractive in a pre-Raphaelite sort of way and for whom Anna quite soon has urges – not withstanding the full generation gap in age between them. There is a trip to Sienna during which Anna certainly flirts self-consciously with Oakley and maybe he with her – we cannot be sure of his motives, until later.

Joanna Hogg films the whole story in a cleverly under-stated way. Even the lovely Tuscany countryside and the beauties of Sienna are toned down by the use of a gentle filter – at no time are we in a travelogue in "Unrelated". The climax of the film is an event which could have been serious, but actually wasn't. When George works out what happened in this event he blows his top in an overemotional way with Oakley who he blames for what occurred. It is a pretty nasty scene which we hear but do not see - a very clever device that further enhances the verisimilitude.

Is "Unrelated" a film with a "cause" to promote? Probably not unless it is to confirm that at its most supercilious and uncaring man's nature is pretty malicious. We know that before we see the film of course, but what the film succeeds in doing is to show that a group of people who would probably regard themselves as being educated and enlightened are in fact hypocritical, selfish and irredeemably self-centred – especially in their treatment of their visitor who is subjected to the minimum of courtesy and the maximum of patronising contempt. Anna is the only character we care about and we do feel sorry for her – and there is some satisfaction that at the end of the film it is she, after the revelation about what has caused her current melancholy, looks to have some resolution in her life. And the rest of the party move on, no doubt unaware of Anna's turmoil, and back to a world at home in leafy England where they can parade and pomp about how "heavenly" Tuscany was again.

Saw this last night at the Glasgow Film Festival with the director and producer present. Joanna Hogg is really an exciting new talent in British cinema. Her influences would appear to be Bergman, Antonioni, Ozu and other classic art-house masters rather than the wan rom-coms and thrillers that tend to clutter up British cinema. The story of a middle-aged woman who joins her friends on holiday in Italy is intriguingly enigmatic but retains an air of mystery and unease as we are allowed to eavesdrop on conversations, hint at relationships and speculate on what seems to be a deeply unhappy existence. The whole film was scripted but the dialogue retains the feel of spontaneity and moments snatched from real life. A challenging film but well worth checking out. Hope it finds a British distributor.

If you wanted a villa holiday in Tuscany this summer and didn't have time, go to this film and by the end you will feel you have spent a fortnight there. Joanna Hogg has created an upper-middle class version of a Mike Leigh film at his slowest. It's beautifully done, and the fortnight is mostly enjoyable, unless you squirm at the sight of drunken Brits abroad or the sound of the upper-middle classes (I developed a thick skin for both of these a long time ago, myself).

The characterisation is subtle, verging on invisible. There's very little intellectual content or sparkling conversation, surely unrealistic in a film about the chattering classes? Perhaps it's the prodigious amount of alcohol that's consumed. All this keeps the focus on Anna, on holiday from her unhappy situation at home, and the cheerfully pie-eyed teenagers that she hangs out with.

The movie was very thin on plot, yet there did seem to be inconsistencies on the departure date for some of the party. I doubt I'll watch it again to check this though; once is nice, but enough.

'Unrelated' has an intriguing premise: a forty-something woman, on the run from an unhappy relationship, takes refuge in a Tuscan villa with an old (but not, it seems, particularly close) friend; and in fact, prefers to spend her time with the younger generation, perhaps trying to re-imagine the youth that got away. There's lots of potential here, and some acute observation, but also some flatness: director Joanna Hogg skilfully captures the mood of a particularly awful house-party, but it's not the sort of place that feels particularly enticing, and the combination of Anna's stupidity and the spoiled obnoxiousness of the beautiful youths who entrance her make for an unappealing and painful combination. If the story falls short of neat conclusions, it also falls short of what normally defines a good story - and the excessive use of static camera shots, leaving the viewer like a guest who'd rather be somewhere else, isn't especially subtle. Overall, this might have been better at half the length: there are some worthwhile ideas, but scene after scene of Anna sitting, painfully on the edge of a social gathering, feels unnecessary.

"Hogg's disinterested agglomeration of realism and gradualism is not novel (many an auteur flourishes on various soils with similar felicity, like Hong Sang-soo, Kelly Reichardt, whose names are just off the top of my head), but it is practical in terms of filmmaking, the camera is static, settings are simple, score-free, no extra-lighting needed, even during nighttime, it has a point-and-shoot expediency of a cottage industry. Distilling human activities exclusively through her rigid frame, both films reveal truth with a clinical discernment. Anna's step-by-step abandon meets with a cavalier response, Oakley is a tease, he knows how to titillate the opposite sex and will not let Anna off his hook before she capitulates, then, to her utter chagrin, he walks away like a champion, and naturally this chapter is closed, Oakley hones his skill of enchantment, but Anna receives a blow to her already distressed middle-age crisis, casual cruelty is blithely exposed. Then, you might not sympathize with Anna, because she is blinded by vanity and obviously operates against her best judgement, also Hogg really foregrounds a 24-year-old Hiddleston's hedonistic youthfulness (even the camera forgoes its immobility trying to catch his exuberance and Adonis gorgeousness), and it is always takes two to tango, at her mature age, Anna should've known better."

read my full review on my blog: Cinema Omnivore, thanks.

The antithesis of all Shirley Valentine stands for.

You've been quarreling with your husband, and things aren't looking too rosy in your future. So, you jump at the chance of going on holiday with your best friend to Italy, with her extended family. While there, you feel a bit of a midlife crisis coming on... and start hanging around with your mate's son and his clique rather than your fellow 'oldies'. Because you got drunk with them a few times, and he saw you naked emerging from a swimming pool, you think there might be sparks between you and this guy... who's about 25 years your junior. But when you offer to spend the night with him, you discover all these dreams are pure fantasy. Depression quickly sets in, and in a fit or rage you announce a secret to your friend that you promised to keep hidden about a crashed car. Whoops.

The heroine (played by Kathryn Worth) is quite a pathetic case, and I felt myself inwardly cringe as she gallivanted around with youngsters with whom she had nothing in common, in a vain attempt to appear 'cool'. NEWSFLASH: you're not 18 anymore. And following around teenagers, putting on a demeanor so fake even a blind man could see it is the height of desperation. I'm not saying it's time to whip out the ol' pipe and slippers, but maybe communicating with your own age group is a better idea than embarrassing yourself in front of a completely different generation who probably wonder "What the hell's going on"? Don't get me started on her failed seduction of her so-called BFF's kid either. CREEPY.

Anyway, it's a good story (if a little long-winded) and when the s**t hits the fan, it turns into something evilly compelling, like a multi-storey car crash. The happy conclusion felt a bit forced, everything was solved a little too easily for my liking. But it's still an honest, admirable little indie feature, and a cautionary tale for all those middle-aged ladies who try to relive their misbegotten youth... 6/10

I'll start right off by saying this movie won't be for everyone. It's a very slow movie, the kind where you're watching people NOT say things for hours and where there's minimal plot. But it's also the type of movie where if you connect with the characters you REALLY connect with them and for me it was a pleasure to spend time with these characters.

The main character of Hogg's Unrelated is Anna a woman who is in the early stages of middle age. Anna and her husband have been invited by her oldest friend Verena to join Verena's family and extended family (made up of three adults and four teenagers) in a villa in the Italian countryside where they spend their summers. Only Anna shows up without her partner and soon enough, rather than spend time with the "olds" Anna is adopted into the friend group of the "youngs", the teens that are young enough to be her children. Drinking and getting high irresponsibly she forms a light flirtation with Oakley, the ring leader of the pack who, despite his youth, has an air of authority and control which stands out in contrast to the somewhat shy and nervous Anna.

For those willing to give Unrelated a chance I will say that is one of the finest meditations on adulthood, particularly adult womanhood, I've ever seen. If the first half of the film is Anna drifting about with the youngs, innocently capturing a youth she never quite had, the second half is her painful growing up.

Anna (Kathryn Worth) is having marital problems and spending the summer holiday family friends Verena (Mary Roscoe), Charlie (Michael Hadley) and George (David Rintoul) at their Tuscan villa. She starts to spend more time with the younger teenage children Archie (Harry Kershaw), Badge (Emma Hiddleston), Jack (Henry Lloyd-Hughes) and Oakley (Tom Hiddleston). They smoke some weed and crash a car. The sexual tension boils over as she flirts with the leader of the kids Oakley.

It's a British mumbletalk indie. I wish the relationships between the characters are laid out more clearly early on. It would help decipher and build a backstory to their connections if they have any. They need to throw in a few lines like "I haven't seen you since you were this tall." It would help to build tension in the first half of the movie. The older people also need to have some in-depth talk in the first half. It would fill out their characters. Anna has very curt conversations with Verena. This feels like a bunch of strangers and it's not until the second half that things get a little bit interesting.

I found this film on the MUBI platform and after a bit of apprehension, I decided to give it a go. It had all the existential angst and cathartic denouements that one would associate with an art-house feature that is out these days. Still, this film manages to provide a mildly amusing look at a group of English holidaymakers in a pastoral Tuscan retreat. Tuscany is as much of a character in the film as Kathryn Worth's Anna. I quite liked Joanna Hogg's use of camera, often introverted yet probing with its longing close-ups of Anna and Oakley. She removes the camera away from the action and towards the characters, subtly highlighting their emotional frailties and thriving insecurities. Shots are consumed, cigarettes are burnt and there is a whole lot of fun and games yet the recessive malaise is hardly disguised. Stylistically, there are hints of David Gordon Green in a few of the scenes not to mention the looming figures of Bergman and Antonioni. My only problem with the film despite its languid appeal is its derivative nature. This is an issue that she largely solved in her much better second feature, Archipelago. A promising debut nevertheless.

This movie has a group of unconnected people (despite being "family" and "friends") who never do or say anything, on vacation in a villa in Italy, in one scene after another of them situated in places (e.g. eating pizza, at a pub, walking, swimming, drinking, smoking, towing a car). They are self-absorbed without having any redeeming qualities even among "oldest friends;" they are to a person nasty, yet boring. Literally no one ever says anything. One time the father screamed at the kids. That's about it. Probably the most interesting thing about it was that once the actress playing "Anna" called Tom Hiddleston "Tom" instead of his character's actual name, "Oakley," in a scene. Utterly pointless.

If you want to see a movie with Tom Hiddleston that actually has characters in it, see "The Deep Blue Sea." They're jerks too, but it, by contrast, has character, dialogue and plot.

A woman unhappy with her relationship seeks refuge at a friend's family summer house in Tuscania, Italy.

Far from being a great film, it has interesting notes, especially when it comes to the authenticity of relationships and self-discovery.

The characters lack a background, and because of that it's a bit difficult to connect with them. Certain scenes are strange, especially when the characters who say they are childhood friends, for example, lack a sense of touch.

The plot is ok, playing it safe and tries to withstand the tension throughout the narrative until it reaches the climax, where the confrontation between characters explodes, so to speak, which despite being predictable is executed in a good way.

The cinematography is perhaps the most interesting aspect of the entire film, with a good choice of camera and shots.

Unrelated (2007) is a movie from the UK written and directed by Joanna Hogg.

Kathryn Worth portrays Anna, a woman in her 40's. She travels to a Italy to stay with an old friend and her friend's family. There are two groups at the villa--the Olds and the Youngs.

Anna hangs out with the Youngs, where she clearly doesn't belong. They're not a particularly wholesome group--spoiled, careless, and seeking pleasure and danger in equal measures.

Unfortunately, the Olds could be described in the same way. There's not a single one among them that's not spoiled and careless. (They don't do dangerous stunts, but they probably did them when they were younger.)

Of course, Tuscany is beautiful, and the movie is interesting in its own way, but, unless you're a Johanna Hogg fan, I don't recommend it.

Unrelated has an IMDb rating of 6.7. I agreed, and rated it 7.

The one thing this film was, was a brilliant portrayal of the obnoxious moneyed English at play in Tuscany, the arrogance and superciliousness of the younger characters and the emotionally uptight 'olds'. I'm not sure if this was the intention of all concerned as the programme notes at the cinema summarised the film as 'an illuminating and touching study of personal crises over ageing and our need to belong'. The Oakley character was particularly repulsive, superb acting there. As for Anna, her desperation oozed out of every hangdog look she delivered, perpetually on the verge of tears which she duly wept with absolutely no sympathy from myself. I'm guessing the dialogue was improvised, if not then the irritating 'banter' and outpourings reveal a script of true mastery, very naturally mundane with the 'youngs' speaking American TV influenced posh and the 'olds' confined to world weary tones. Overall, I couldn't have cared less if Anna had been gang raped or if they'd all been killed in the car crash, the world would be better off without people like these. By the time of Anna's revelation to V at the hotel I was so sick of her face that it was the one moment I laughed. It was bad judgement on my part going to see Unrelated and half way through I was close to walking out but like any disaster, it was difficult to avert my eyes, a woeful experience. I hope all concerned go on to better things.

Blame Antonioni for creating the sub-genre: middle class people on holiday which opens fissures in their relationships. In 'L'Avventura' this made him a star and allowed many to follow and create the tedious holiday group film.

Unrelated does nothing more for the genre: it even has the same degree of uncommunication between actors which Antonioni had made a style and permits critics to talk of the "ineffable existential etc" although it can be boring when there is a lack of meta-guidance to the film, not just an inability to write or demonstrate drama and imply something by its absence.

The scenery is quite pleasant, the actors reasonably able, though there is a terrible English 'kitchen-sink' realism with most of them and this level of dreary naturalism is like a millstone which sinks the entire effort.

Watching rain drops slide down a window pane would be more engaging.

Joanna Hogg's most recent film "The Souvenier" has been hailed as a masterpiece although personally I think it's a little too precious for masterpiece status. For me, her real masterpiece is her debut film "Unrelated" in which a group of truly appalling people, (an extended family and their friend, Anna), spend a summer together in Tuscany. The film is scripted and the people on screen are, mostly, actors but it could be a documentary or even an autopsy as Hogg dissects their lives in close-up. Seldom have people I have despised as much on film proved to be so fascinating and it's entirely down to Hogg's superlative direction and the extraordinary performances of the cast.

A young, and as then totally unknown, Tom Hiddleston is utterly brilliant as the oldest of the children and the one the guest, Anna, (an equally brilliant Kathryn Worth), takes a fancy to only to be rejected. As a director Hogg couldn't cut these people anymore deeply than if she used a scalpel instead of a camera.(Presumably she doesn't like them any more than I do but it's clear she knows them intimately). This is 'proper' cinema; this is cinema used for a purpose. You may find the characters and even the film itself reprehensible but I defy anyone to deny its brilliance.

Dull. A bunch of unlikeable, self absorbed, posh people go on holiday. That's really it. Even that makes it spund more interesting thsn it was.

The story of a middle aged woman who finds herself in an unhappy relationship and feeling her age, and also finding herself attracted to a much younger man, is a story worth telling, but this isn't it. It could have gone in so many directions - and when it ended, I had no idea what the point of what I'd just seen had been. I give it such a low rating for one of the most unsatisfying endings ever, one that seemed to say, "I don't know how to end this, so I'll just end it." Tom Hiddleston is gorgeous and beautiful and perfectly cast in this role, and the other scenery is also gorgeous. But I have no idea what the point of this film was.

This movie is a complete waste of time. Even the title has nothing to do with the movie itself... May be that was it unrelated - to anything that goes on in the movie. It gets any stars at all cause of the nice location and the scandal Tom Hiddleston's character had with his dad... But barely.