The Hide (2008)
Country: GB
Technical: col/2.35:1 82m
Director: Marek Losey
Cast: Alex Macqueen, Phil Campbell
Synopsis:
An ornithologist prepares to spend the day in a Suffolk hide, in the hope of spotting the sociable plover and adding the last tick to his British list. However, as a stranger and apparent fugitive pays him an unwelcome visit, there develops an uneasy exchange of personal revelations that explain the intermittent presence of a police helicopter buzzing overhead in unexpected ways.
Review:
Superbly acted two-hander, filmed partly on location but mostly in a minutely constructed and dressed studio set. The low light levels produce some appropriately shallow focus effects as the protagonists spar cautiously with one another, and there are some amusing details surrounding the birdwatcher's modus operandi and OCD behaviour (Macqueen's is a masterly portrayal of fastidiousness in close-up). On the debit side, there are one or two implausibilities in the plot and the grizzly premise underlying everything is perhaps too richly Shakespearean for so low-key a thriller. However, this is an impressive diamond in the rough, produced, of all people, by the son of Pierre Granier-Deferre and directed by Joseph Losey's grandson.
Country: GB
Technical: col/2.35:1 82m
Director: Marek Losey
Cast: Alex Macqueen, Phil Campbell
Synopsis:
An ornithologist prepares to spend the day in a Suffolk hide, in the hope of spotting the sociable plover and adding the last tick to his British list. However, as a stranger and apparent fugitive pays him an unwelcome visit, there develops an uneasy exchange of personal revelations that explain the intermittent presence of a police helicopter buzzing overhead in unexpected ways.
Review:
Superbly acted two-hander, filmed partly on location but mostly in a minutely constructed and dressed studio set. The low light levels produce some appropriately shallow focus effects as the protagonists spar cautiously with one another, and there are some amusing details surrounding the birdwatcher's modus operandi and OCD behaviour (Macqueen's is a masterly portrayal of fastidiousness in close-up). On the debit side, there are one or two implausibilities in the plot and the grizzly premise underlying everything is perhaps too richly Shakespearean for so low-key a thriller. However, this is an impressive diamond in the rough, produced, of all people, by the son of Pierre Granier-Deferre and directed by Joseph Losey's grandson.
Country: GB
Technical: col/2.35:1 82m
Director: Marek Losey
Cast: Alex Macqueen, Phil Campbell
Synopsis:
An ornithologist prepares to spend the day in a Suffolk hide, in the hope of spotting the sociable plover and adding the last tick to his British list. However, as a stranger and apparent fugitive pays him an unwelcome visit, there develops an uneasy exchange of personal revelations that explain the intermittent presence of a police helicopter buzzing overhead in unexpected ways.
Review:
Superbly acted two-hander, filmed partly on location but mostly in a minutely constructed and dressed studio set. The low light levels produce some appropriately shallow focus effects as the protagonists spar cautiously with one another, and there are some amusing details surrounding the birdwatcher's modus operandi and OCD behaviour (Macqueen's is a masterly portrayal of fastidiousness in close-up). On the debit side, there are one or two implausibilities in the plot and the grizzly premise underlying everything is perhaps too richly Shakespearean for so low-key a thriller. However, this is an impressive diamond in the rough, produced, of all people, by the son of Pierre Granier-Deferre and directed by Joseph Losey's grandson.