I saw this a long while back but some of the images are still engrained on my soul. There are so many things that are great about this film yet also so many things that are just wrong. But it's an example of indie cinema that is at least trying to be different. The story is about Lydia a refugee who (I think) has been smuggled into England. She has a brother - they both saw their parents murdered when they were children - Lydia became a nun and victim to war abuses and her brother a murdering war criminal. There are a several truly stand out sequences, powerful and emotional stuff: Lydia's brother murdering a group of refugees, Lydia attacked by a man wanting to find her brother, and the end of the film when Lydia and her brother finally meet up. Yet there are other aspects to the story, the Obon, who are maybe mystical people and looking for Lydia and may or may not be in her imagination? I didn't understand. And the two cops were revolting characters. I know I'm a guy and I find it hard to relate to a story when every horrible character in a film is a man abusing a woman. Having said that my girlfriend of the time thought it was great and balled her eyes out, and I thought it worth my time adding this comment.
3 Reviews
Surprisingly good - though a bit disturbing.
stu-12517 December 2003
I saw this by accident so it's not what I normally go for: an arthouse film about a refugee with some disturbing imagery. It looked like it was shot for 0 pence, yet seemed more effective and real for it. The story was original and although some of the acting was a bit dodgy here and there the lead actress was pretty amazing in showing the torment that she felt. It also showed the total lack of understanding of people in general to refugees and what they have gone through. I'll never look at another toilet cleaner or windscreen washer in the same way again. I hate to say this, but I was moved.
Please make it stop!!
mynamesbuck3 March 2005
I was squirming in my seat i was so bored. The film use's the old shaky cam technique a bit to much making it very hard to sit through. I am normally very forgiving when it comes to low budget features but these was just to bad. This was like a bad dream projected up on the silver screen and i suspect that's what the directer was going for, though the film would have been much better if there was a stronger narrative, better lighting (i found myself trying very hard to see what was meant to happening a lot of the time). Also the two cops, one of whom constantly swears, is one of the most regrettable characters possibly ever created. He was so heavily stereotyped and whilst his constant foul language must have seemed funny to the directer at the time, soon wears thin with the audience. The structure of this film was very poor and at times to confusing. Its quick and snappy editing should have set a fast pace but instead just made me feel overcome with panic and i ever experienced motion sickness for a while. The actors looked like they were giving it there all which is good because it is hard to imagine how the directer talked them into doing this film in the first place. Over all this was a disappointing feature and failed to impress. 2/10
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