Hot Milk

After the credits roll, Hot Milk leaves you with the strange taste of over-boiled milk-bitter and lacking something essential.

*** The protagonist's journey is shaped by her interactions with those around her, particularly in her tumultuous relationship with her mother and her complicated love life.

Yet, despite these emotional dynamics, the film feels disjointed, as if the narrative lacks a clear purpose.

The script, unfortunately, falls short. Information is doled out sparingly, making the plot feel underdeveloped. Potentially intriguing parallel stories are introduced but never fully explored. The ending, too, seems forced, attempting to provoke an emotional response but ultimately feeling hollow.

*** On the bright side, the film benefits from a strong performance from Irish actress Fiona Shaw, whose portrayal brings depth to her character. Additionally, the photography shines, with stunning shots of the Mediterranean sun and sea.

A young woman and her wheelchair bound mother travel to Spain to seek treatment for the mother's possibly psychosomatic condition. Whilst there the daughter meets and starts a lesbian relationship with another young woman. Writer/director Rebecca Lenkiewicz's 2024 feature film adaptation of Deborah Levy's novel is, one assumes, a partly symbolic relationship drama about families and memories and the marks they leave, both physical and otherwise. An Anglo/Greek co-production with Greece standing in for Spain, it's a fairly restrained drama about coping with pain and loss, and forms of entrapment, with it's share of physical manifestations - wheelchairs, jellyfish marks. Although not too bad it could be a hard sell to a mass audience.

This does come to quite an head in the last five minutes and there's a solid performance from Fiona Shaw at times too, but otherwise I struggled to see much point in this rather shallow drama. "Rose" (Shaw) hasn't been able to walk for almost twenty years so has mortgaged her house so she can attend a specialist clinic run by "Gomez" (Vincent Perez). She is accompanied by her daughter "Sophia" (Emma Mackey) who, whilst she obviously loves her mother, is clearly a bit fed up being her constant carer. I think that fairly swiftly we can deduce something of the nature of the older woman's problems, but that isn't really the crux of this story. That has more to do with "Sophia" and her relationship with "Ingrid" (Vicky Krieps) whose enigmatic personality and character entrance and infuriate her, even more so when her friend "Matty" (Yang Gael) shows up to muddy the already pretty confused waters. With this uninteresting scenario bubbling along lethargically and Shaw just complaining about the water the whole time, we are now largely left to furnish the story with our own interpretation of what we think is most likely going on and then, certainly in my case, ask just why I ought to care one way or the other. The raffia-mafia have had a hand in the characterisation of "Ingrid" and I'm afraid that even though it's filmed on a lovely Greek beach I just couldn't get into it. It's had some decent effort put into the production, but it will look fine on a winter's evening on the television. Not so much hot, more tepid.

Hot Milk is the kind of movie where it's visual presentation, strong performances and interesting concept is surrounded, but the lack of emotional weight within the characters and struggling structure fails to achieve it's potential.

The beautiful camerawork and colors really helps to establish the setting and the atmosphere. Offering some good insights of what the director wants to display and discuss. The performances from Emma Mackey, Vicky Krieps, and Fiona Shaw were all pretty good and does offer some solid chemistry between one another. I did enjoy some of the concepts that the writing was offering, especially some of the developing dynamics between mother and daughter and conflicts of connection.

However, that is where the movie struggles because the writing doesn't fully develop it's characters throughly, enough to the point where the emotional weight and tone doesn't really connect. Which made it a bit difficult to engage with the characters at certain points. Alongside with some awkward dialogue.

Overall, it has some strong moments but it's not something I would see again soon.

Hot Milk is a film that truly shines when it comes to its visual storytelling. The cinematography is one of its strongest assets, with a variety of creative shots and angles that draw the viewer in and create a unique atmosphere throughout. While the storyline can be a bit odd and at times even confusing, the film's visuals do a lot to clarify the emotions and themes at play. The director's use of imagery often speaks louder than the dialogue, making the film feel more like an experience than a straightforward narrative. Although the plot sometimes meanders and leaves questions unanswered, the strong visual direction keeps things interesting and engaging. The performances are solid, and the mood is consistently intriguing, even if the story doesn't always make perfect sense. Overall, Hot Milk is a film that's worth watching for its artistic approach and memorable style, earning a solid 7 out of 10 stars.