Bridgend

Bridgend attempts to explore a deeply unsettling real-life tragedy, but despite its eerie atmosphere and strong cinematography, the film struggles to deliver a coherent or impactful narrative. The misty, bleak landscapes perfectly set the tone, and there's an undeniable sense of dread throughout. However, the storytelling feels vague and frustratingly elusive, failing to provide meaningful insight into the tragic events it depicts.

Hannah Murray delivers a committed performance, bringing raw emotion to her role, but the film's repetitive nature and lack of depth make it a difficult watch. Instead of diving into the psychological and societal factors behind the story, it leans too much on mood and abstraction, leaving the audience disconnected rather than immersed.

While the film deserves credit for its ambition and visual aesthetic, it ultimately falls short of being a gripping or thought-provoking experience.

If you live in the back of beyond, where all your parents and grandparents knew each other how do you escape? What is there to live for when there are no jobs or future to look forward to? How do you portray this scenario in a film? Welcome to Bridgend. A dark and melancholic film that does just that. Everything is dark, the scenery, soundtrack and outlook give no hope. The teenagers are falling by the wayside, one by one and still no one has any answers. You feel their angst and inevitable demise but it all seems natural. The sign of a good film in my eyes and ears. Not for everyone, a bleak tale if ever there was one but well portrayed non the less.

This is a social drama, not a horror movie, in the true sense of the word. I am getting a bit tired of movies in the horror section, that really aren't horror. Wasted too many hours watching some truely aweful pschodramas. Having said that, it is a real shame they chose to slot this into the horror catagory, as it is actually not a bad film, if a little muddled in places and has a relevant story to tell.. The basic premis, a cop arrives in a town that has had a spate of ongoing male teenage suicides. Almost 80 in 5 years, that works out to just over one every 3 weeks. An alarming numer, particularly as it is based on historical fact, if more than a little exaggerated.

The films main problem from my perspective, is that it is a journey with no destination. Nothing is really explained, there are hints of some kind of cult, or supernatural influence, but it never goes beyond hinting. The final scene is beautifully cinegraphic, but as a whole the movie would have earned another 2 stars if it hadn't of mascaraded as a Horror film.

Thanatos is the drive to death and has often been referred to in recent literature in reference to humanity's drive to self annihilation, faced with seemingly overwhelming social,economic and environmental issues.

Bridgend is its own way taps into this notion. It focuses on a group of young people who seem to have reached the end of hope and view death as their only "accomplishment" in life. Death has a tribal quality, its something that is worshiped as a group and dedication proved by taking life threatening risks, before the final act itself.

The quality of acting is good and the visuals whilst austere, are well rendered and do help infuse the film with a sombre atmosphere. Where this film falls down, for me, is in its story department. Its really difficult to understand what its point is? Indeed, in some respects, it seems rather rhetorical in a rather sad and depressing, way.

In any case, I'll leave it to you to judge the overall worth of this film. Its not for me but that's not to say you might not find something of meaning in its message. Seven out of ten from me.

Got to be honest, I did not get what was going on. I'm thinking perhaps I'm just too old to understand what's going on in the minds of teenagers, though at the same time, I do remember times as a teenager when I left like just letting go.

The movie is based on actual events. A small town in the south of Whales that has had a high suicide rate among teenagers from 2007- 2012 and no explanation was given for why this was happening as the teens killed themselves without giving one.

It looks like the filmmakers are trying to make as real of a narrative as possible to what was going on in the town. Exploring the day to day lives of these kids as they attempt to live their lives to the fullest until one day they just decide they don't want to anymore.

I did like the look of the movie, and how it flowed. The main character, Sara was great to look at, I loved her interactions with other characters such as Thomas and Jamie, it was beautiful to watch and felt very natural, just a bunch of kids connecting. Also felt the music greatly added to the film. Bridgend really feels like the filmmakers are running the events through their heads to find an answer themselves to what's going on but never do.

Bridgeend works without a plot, which does not work for me. The movie is met for a certain type of person and I'm definitely not that person it's trying to reach and I just have to except that.

I did like the cinematography the art direction and the acting, but the concepts do not reach me and because of that I needed the answer these kids could not find.