Film review: Sightseers (4 out of 5 stars)
Steve Oram and Alice Lowe
Following on from director Ben Wheatley’s widely-acclaimed movie Kill List last year, we have a one of the blackest comedies around.
I have to say Kill List wasn’t acclaimed by me - I didn’t enjoy that extremely violent film with its strange supernatural overtones.
However, Sightseers is a much more enjoyable effort.
Various actors who had low-key roles in Kill List featured in this new movie.
Two of them, the stars of Sightseers, Steve Oram and Alice Lowe, wrote the screenplay.
The story sees Chris (Oram) take his girlfriend Tina (Lowe) on holiday, towing a caravan around the sights of Yorkshire and surrounding counties.
However, Chris has some anger-management problems and has a rather terminal way of resolving an argument.
As the bodies mount up, what will happen to Chris and Tina?
In fact, the journey (both literal and metaphoric) is the best part of this movie.
There are some excellent laugh out loud moments, though I noticed not all the audience appreciated the dark humour (one couple walked out).
However, I felt the balance between the violence and the comedy was handled pretty well.
Oram and Lowe are excellent in the roles and Eileen Davies deserves a mention playing Tina’s mum, desperate not to cut the apron strings.
In fact, there are several established actors you’ll recognise from their many British TV roles, such as Richard Lumsden and Tony Way.
The beautiful scenery also plays its part, creating a perfect serene contrast to the tension.
We get to enjoy the Ribblehead viaduct and even the Pencil Museum in Cumbria.
So, if you can handle the bludgeoning and crunching of bones, this is a clever black comedy that works well.
Film details: Sightseers (15) 88mins.
Director: Ben Wheatley.
Starring: Steve Oram, Alice Lowe.
Screening courtesy of Cineworld Crawley
Steve Payne
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