Movie Recommendation: Sightseers
For my next recommendation/review I will be looking at a more “British” offering to the world of road movies with a decidedly dark and twisted sense of humour as a couple take off in a caravan to see the beauty of the UK and instead find an outlet for their own psychotic pleasures.
*WARNING THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN MILD SPOILERS*
Synopsis
Chris and Tina are a middle aged couple in love. They are off on holiday to see the tourist hotspots of Britain (much to the chagrin of Tina’s mother) but slowly Chris begins to reveal his darker side, he is in fact a serial killer using the holiday as pretence to indulge his psychotic desires. But far from being horrified at this, Tina actually quite likes the thrill of being an accomplice and murder muse. In fact it becomes apparent that she may be more dangerous than Chris and the question soon becomes will the couple survive this murderous odyssey or will they kill each other before they can become “Honeymoon Killers”?
Thoughts
This 2012 effort from director Ben Wheatley epitomises his love it or hate it brand of cinema with a very British tribute to films like “The Honeymoon Killers” and “Island of Death”. Like most of his films it is odd, funny, disturbing, realistic and fantastical all at once. Which is why I will be the first to admit that this film is not for everyone.
One of the main reasons people will be put off by this film is the fact that a movie that is at once a funny and light-hearted romance film shares the same space as a violent and disturbing serial killer movie. This film requires you to have a pitch black sense of humour and if you do not possess such a thing, you will not enjoy this film. Having said that even for people who appreciate black comedy the constant shifting in tone can be quite jarring to watch, often giving the viewer tonal whiplash and pulling them out of the experience. Along with this the intended humour of the film can sometimes fall flat and kill a scene dead on its feet sometimes due to a mistimed delivery of a joke (Wheatley’s inexperience at intentional comedy does shine through) other times just due to the joke not having a satisfying punchline. But what are the positive aspects of the film?
Though the films gallows humour may drive people away, it will also draw in a lot of others. With the exception of a few scenes the jokes mostly land very well and can make the unfunny scenes feel necessary in order to create contrast, very much in the vain of Monty Python. And like Monty Python it has some fascinating characters to ferry us around their world.
Chris and Tina for as much as they are horrible murderers, come across as a very real, if dramatically heightened couple. They have hopes, dreams, fears and their own different standards that they abide by and then quickly break. Chris (Steve Oram) very much has the showy role. A man who believes that he is doing good but only really kills to indulge his desires and he does deliver a lot of comedy in his scenes. Oram has an undoubtable charisma that makes his character very watchable. But while Chris is a delight to watch the best part of the movie is Tina (Alice Lowe). She begins as a mild mannered girl under the finger of her mother but slowly blossoms into something not even Chris can deal with, all while still remaining very sarcastic and most of the time hilariously oblivious. Her reactions to Chris as she slowly begins to figure out his love of murder are some of the funniest scenes in the movie. This coupled with her desire to become her own woman makes her an easily relatable character. And the supporting cast is full of great one off personalities for the main players to bounce off of, including: Tina’s mum, who holds a grudge against her daughter for accidentally killing her dog, a hippy kindred spirit to Chris and an upbeat daily mail reader out for a stroll at the worst possible time. And they are all presented fantastically thanks to the witty script (written by Lowe and Oram) and Wheatley’s great direction.
The style is very Wheatley. There are long unnerving handheld shots that almost place us an omniscient observer to the proceedings. Lashings of great looking gore that can make even the most enthusiastic body horror fan wince. A very British kitchen sink approach to storytelling, which piles multiple genre aspects into the film, switching from comedy to horror in a second, which could be seen as a negative but adds to a social-realist style that can help the film be viewed as more real than other films of its kind and there is an almost matter of fact surrealism, where surreal moments occur completely within a realistic context that truly put into perspective how crazy real life can be. Which also adds appeal beyond its comedic boundaries.
Summary
This film will not be to everyone’s taste. The gallows humour clashes a lot with the drama in some scenes and can take the viewer out of the experience if that is not what they are expecting and some of the humour just does not work, even on its own terms. But Ben Wheatley’s kitchen sink and matter of fact surrealist style (and if you are not familiar with his style I would also recommend watching his 2011 film “Kill List”) combining American road movies, romantic comedies, Monty Python and many others is fascinating to see in a medium over stuffed with cliché. And on top of that the characters are fascinating to pick apart and hilariously pathetic to watch. Overall Wheatley is proving himself to be a promising presence in British film.
