Rating: D+
Dir: Ronald J. Wright
Star: Suzanne Celensu, Megan Paul, Darrell Palmer, Dan Wrigley
Not, in any way, to be confused with the Netflix mini-series of the same name. One is about survival in an hellish and uncompromising landscape. The other does not take place in Yorkshire. Hohoho. Trust me, that’s far closer to “humour” than anything this will offer, because this dark, Leeds-set drama feels uncomfortably close to trauma porn. We open with a woman getting raped in the very opening shot (top), only the first in a number of lengthy depictions of uncomfortable events. Most of these are verbal recountings rather than visual re-enactments. Yet overall, this likely merits more trigger warnings than an entire series of The Lone Ranger. Hohoho. Look, I’m doing my best here.
We meet Marianne (Celensu) and Ella (Paul), both victims of the same serial attacker in the northern English city of Leeds, who then ran into traffic and was killed (off-screen!), apparently in a fit of remorse. They bond over their mutual trauma, with Marianne inviting Ella, who is a nurse in a local hospice, to move in with her. Initially, things seem fine, and they open up about past experiences. For example, Ella was abused by her grandfather, which has left her with a very jaundiced opinion of men. When another attacker starts viciously assaulting local women, the pair’s suspicions turn to Shaun (Palmer), an ex-soldier, who recently moved into the area. He has a serious case of PTSD, and his attitude raises red flags, especially in Ella.
It’s all very talky, and only occasionally convincing. What seems like virtually the first time Marianne and Ella sit down together, they’re revealing all their deep secrets to each other, which I believe is grounds for getting your British citizenship revoked. There’s not even a nice cup of tea involved. They then go out for a walk in the woods… Well, less a “walk”, than a stand about and deliver clunky monologues, containing stuff like Ella proclaiming, “I don’t know why they call it ‘the wild,’ though. It seems so much more civilised than back there, in so-called society. There’s no lies out here, no secrets, no masks, there’s just predator and prey, and each know the other. There’s kind of a beautiful clarity to it, an honesty.”
You’ve probably tuned out somewhere in the middle of that. I know I did. And perhaps also marked Ella as questionably stable. I can neither confirm nor deny. However, I will say, it takes until almost the end of the 113-minute running-time, before the movie catches up with the audience. The truth is at least somewhat interesting: it just arrives an hour too late. Subsequent moments, such as Ella going missing, but Marianna finding her with spectacular ease, don’t help. Nor do conversations which sometimes feel as if the people weren’t actually in the same room (potentially a result of being filmed during COVID). I won’t be holding my breath for any more from the director. Hohoho, and out.