wreckers ( film )
tim robey reviews wreckers, a debut drama from british director dr hood, starring claire foy, benedict cumberbatch .
a complex and labyrinthine film, dictynna hood’s ‘wreckers’ is the very opposite of a gentle cinematic journey, its initial appearance of a romantic melodrama twisting itself instead into something closer to an underplayed psychological horror .
wreckers blends spells of sheer, watching - paint - dry tedium with sparkier inter - sibling stuff and the odd bout of rural rumpy - pumpy .
in a year already stacked with accomplished british debuts, dr hood' s smart, engrossing and well - acted wreckers deserves to be more than a footnote .
for her debut feature, british film - maker dictynna hood has created a brooding drama of rural disquiet and sexual tension .
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thanks to all these elements, the film is lent a genuine sense of foreboding that is ultimately left unfulfilled by the close .
if films have taught us anything, it' s that the odds of lasting happiness are stacked against urban yuppies seeking peace in the countryside, and so it is once more in
wreckers .
that is not to say' wreckers’ is a bad film, or indeed a cop out. it is very much a narrative driven character piece designed to play completely against the expectations of an audience, refusing to be pinned into simple genre stereotypes. it changes direction many times, continually wrong footing us and ultimately ending up in an unexpected, subdued place that is very different from where we started. as a display of excellent performances, artful and tight direction, and genre defying narrative, it is an unusual and challenging piece of film making that comes very highly recommended .
visually,' wreckers’ is a beautiful film, with much of the imagery at times reminiscent of a terence malick piece. there are visual metaphors throughout, most strikingly the recurring image of butterflies and moths fluttering against window panes, able to see the world, but unable to escape into it – in effect, expressing the growing desires of dawn as her once perfect world begins to fray around her. also important is the sound design, or rather lack of it, rendering wreckers deafeningly quiet at times and giving it an oppressive atmosphere that is only punctuated by bursts of sudden and jarring music that are notable for their interruption of the carefully cultivated stillness .
production: an artificial eye presentation of a likely story production. (international sales: content film, london .) produced by simon onwurah. directed, written by d. r. hood .
this is most certainly an actor’s film and the entire cast is played perfectly. claire foy has just the right balance of sweetness and innocence, yet manages to invest dawn with the essence of a real person, while shaun evans successfully imbues nick with a realistic degree of volatility. despite that, several of his scenes in the film are both harrowing and draw real sympathy from the audience .
wreckers is a small canvas, but it contains fascinating performances from benedict cumberbatch and claire foy as a couple returning to their roots in the country. the fact that those roots are twisted, rotting and deeply hidden beneath the surface emerges slowly during sun - dappled days in the norfolk fens .
but hood, to her credit, holds back, allows her actors to improvise and goes for ambiguity rather than vulgar punch. her next project will be worth looking out for. plus any film that showcases an open - topped white karmann ghia has my vote
if films have taught us anything, it’s that the odds of lasting happiness are stacked against urban yuppies seeking peace in the countryside, and so it is once more in “wreckers. ” playing not unlike critics’ darling “martha marcy may marlene” with the genders flipped and the weather gloomier, writer - helmer d. r. hood’s intriguing, well - acted debut draws [ … ]
benedict’s portrayal of david is quite a departure from any of his previous roles. at the start of the film, we are drawn to trust him as dawn does, and as a result the revelations through the narrative become all the more dramatic because of it. although this film is tightly locked to dawn’s point of view, it is the brothers who are the centrepiece, their relationship fluctuating between very mellow, loving, and caring to spontaneous bouts of violence and intense psychological mind games against one another that in turn impact hugely upon dawn .
in a year already stacked with accomplished british debuts, dr hood’s smart, engrossing and well - acted wreckers deserves to be more than a footnote. the contentedly married dawn (claire foy) and david (benedict cumberbatch) move back to his childhood village in the fens, where david’s brother nick (shaun evans) turns up unannounced. we read the body language quickly, and it’s sexually tense .
still, this intelligently shot and edited film has a lot going for it, not least foy, whose pale, freckled beauty suggests something of the young isabelle huppert. she and cumberbatch, who is excellent as usual, create a marriage both tender and remote, a little scared of itself, its bedrock newly unstable .
crew: camera (color, 16mm - to - 35mm), annemarie lean - vercoe; editor, claire pringle; music, andrew lovett; production designer, beck rainford; costume designer, rebecca gore; sound, ben collinson. reviewed at london film festival (new british cinema), oct. 24, 2011. running time: 86 min .
dawn is the focus of the film, and her relationship with david is beautifully tender, as she struggles to get pregnant. but increasingly dawn takes on the role of reluctant detective, and becomes aware of her outsider status, a city girl unaware of the past that surrounds her we’re slightly in minor straw dogs or hot fuzz territory — the bucolic, charming village that turns out to have less - than - charming residents, all apparently indulging in wife - beating, incest and other crime behind closed doors. much, perhaps too much, is made by the cinematographer of country churches, stained glass and rippling fields. if only this had been pushed to the claustrophobic, darker side, the film would be more commercial .
if hood gradually runs out of ways to bend this brittle character triangle — nick’s arc is unsatisfyingly curtailed as the script shifts focus to lesser catalysts in dawn and david’s marriage — she deserves credit for building and maintaining the film’s impressively musty mood, as well as for drawing a trio of smart, splintery performances from her bright young leads. evans is particularly impressive in a tight, nervy turn that resists the role’s potential for wild - eyed showboating .
per press notes, hood claims to have grown up in an english village similar to the sleepy fens hamlet depicted here, and her film is clearly posited as a contempo take on a grand british tradition of rustic what - lies - beneath storytelling, dating back to radio soap “the archers” and beyond. there are tonal parallels here with ali smith’s 2005 novel “the accidental, ” as the pic mistrustfully regards city - dwellers’ community - minded affectations in such environments .
from the outset, dawn is the clear protagonist, and we follow her experiences and discoveries throughout. unusually, we are allowed no further knowledge into what is going on around her than she is. instead we are privy to the uncomfortable looks and unspoken tensions between david and nick behind dawn’s back, heightening our unease. we are given no further understanding of the brother’s relationship and the reasoning behind their feelings, and as the film proceeds we start to develop a real fear for dawn’s safety, or perhaps even her sanity. she is continually pushed further and further into the tangled and murky past of the brothers lives, unable to be proactive in events as they unfold, and coming to the conclusion early on that she does not ‘know’ her husband at all, particularly when his brother remarks about his violent nature .
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movies and tv shows are certified fresh with a steady tomatometer of 75% or higher after a set amount of reviews (80 for wide - release movies, 40 for limited - release movies, 20 for tv shows), including 5 reviews from top critics .
[ a ] low - key, high - tension british indie drama ...
d. r. hood' s intriguing, well - acted debut draws shifting lines of conflict... before losing steam in the third act .
the structure rambles. the plot sometimes bewitches, sometimes bemuses. the cast works valiantly to keep us caring .
a low - key affair but an interesting take on social realism despite its flaws .
impressively directed and superbly written, this is an emotionally engaging, powerfully tense british drama with a trio of terrific performances from all three leads .
while the drama occasionally overheats, strong turns from the two leads keep us invested in the characters .
with: with: claire foy, benedict cumberbatch, shaun evans, peter mcdonald, sinead matthews, nicola green, june watson, georgie smith .
the narrative wastes little time establishing the fragile marital setup of ostensibly still - smitten dawn (claire foy) and david (cumberbatch), who have recently moved back to david’s gray childhood village to start their family — a project that an early scene in a fertility clinic establishes has been struggling to reach fruition for some time. the move, meanwhile, appears to benefit workaholic academic david more than it does schoolteacher dawn, who’s frequently left alone to handle the challenges of renovating their crumbling country pad .
when david’s scruffier brother nick (shaun evans), a soldier on leave from afghanistan, turns up unannounced on their doorstep, it doesn’t initially seem odd that dawn is happier for his company than her husband is. it’s not long, however, before the severely ptsd - afflicted nick begins dredging up unwelcome family memories that suggest the david whom nick grew up with is very different from the man dawn married. the behavior of all three principals takes a funny turn, in ways that feel alternately unsettling and artificially script - induced .
efficiently edited production makes the most of clearly limited resources (we never see the exterior of the couple’s house, for one thing). annemarie lean - vercoe’s intelligent lensing is seasonally evocative, which is to say mostly overcast, while andrew lovett’s score, with its unexpected inflections of fiddle and accordion, strikes an ironically pastoral note .
cast: with: claire foy, benedict cumberbatch, shaun evans, peter mcdonald, sinead matthews, nicola green, june watson, georgie smith .
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nick, a soldier, has psychological problems, manifested when he sleepwalks and in some clumsily overplayed episodes of post - traumatic breakdown. dawn and david are trying for a baby, but one of them isn’t being honest .
meanwhile, the crushing, often violent intimacy between the brothers shows dawn a new side to her husband, but it’s not one she wholly likes .
hood, getting great work from a gifted crew, makes this a study in wispy half - light and secrets wisely hidden from view. it’s strongest when things are on the verge of happening, emotions inchoate and unarticulated .
the later stretches get over - literal: a stalled engine, just after we’ve discovered a key character’s infertile, is too blunt a dramatic metaphor, and the way hood co - opts another local couple (peter mcdonald and sinead matthews, both good) into her drama leads to a sticky, vaguely unsatisfying pile - up .
in pictures - the story of love and romance: from adam and eve to tinder and chemsex. compiled by martin chilton
the beautiful norfolk fens hide dark secrets in d. r. hood’s debut, featuring benedict cumberbatch and claire foy
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married couple dawn (claire foy) and david (benedict cumberbatch) are a picturesque couple enjoying a seemingly idyllic lifestyle. renovating a house, trying for their first baby, keeping chickens… but there is an undercurrent of foreboding almost from the very moment of the arrival of david’s brother nick, on leave from the army after a six year absence from home. dawn initially finds herself drawn to nick, but as she does, uncomfortable and unexpected revelations about her husband begin to emerge, and from there the perfect life they have built begins to unravel .
watched this tonight. intriguing. did feel a bit like i needed a playbook to keep up .
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wreckers is a 2011 drama film written and directed by d. r. hood . the film 's cast includes claire foy and benedict cumberbatch with shaun evans , peter mcdonald and sinead matthews . 
wreckers is a 2011 drama film written and directed by d. r. hood. the film's cast includes claire foy and benedict cumberbatch with shaun evans, peter mcdonald and sinead matthews.
wreckers is a 2011 drama film written and directed by d. r. hood. the film's cast includes claire foy and benedict cumberbatch with shaun evans, peter mcdonald and sinead matthews.