Set Me Free: Vol. I

This is how to grab the audience's attention! I loved the build up, the characters, the story. I just want to watch the second one straight away. Very chilling ending.

Despite parallels with appalling real-life news stories, Set Me Free is neither a thriller nor a film about crime and/or captivity. If you've seen the trailer then you'll understand that there's more to this film than meets the eye anyway due to it's bizarre storytelling. Instead, it's a clever film about how the human spirit may transcend physical boundaries, and the disparity between external and internal freedom through the eyes of Lauren, our protagonist. Asche and Spencer's music for the film emphasises the gentle domesticity, rather than the shrieking claustrophobia, of Lauren's circumstances, later giving way to sustained ambient chimes that lend an unearthly edge to our own alien world. There's something very "Lovely Bones" about it as it is charming, eloquent and dark when it needs to be. As for the performances, only a couple of characters did not match the stronger actors during the scenes, but Nina Taylor is nothing short of perfect as the strange girl around whom this trembling universe revolves. Smith has the intelligence to trust his cast to show us the world in a different perspective.

This is something special. Don't ignore it. Especially the follow-up second chapter.

This brilliant and bizarre film from director Kris Smith is superbly acted and icily controlled – it grips from the very first scenes. Development does not get more arrested than this. I was reminded of Alan Bennett's maxim that all families have a secret: they are not like other families. But I can't imagine any family being quite as unlike others as this.

Set Me Free has a sense of pitch-black humour and even playfulness. Lauren not understanding certain things and getting words in the wrong order (due to her unusual upbringing) can't help make you feel like it's somewhat humorous. The humour is not entirely cruel, or alienated. At one stage, there's a scene between Lauren and Ethan and she starts to understand that life isn't so dangerous and there's more to life than being indoors all the time. On a serious note, I just love how the story leads to something bigger as the minute she leaves the lighthouse. It becomes more than just a strange movie and unfolds into a detective thriller - something I did not expect.

The film is superbly shot, with some deadpan, elegant compositions, and intentionally skewiff framings of the "headless" variety that Lucrecia Martel used in her film The Headless Woman, imbibing both the sociopathy of the characters and, at one remove, the reality-TV surveillance aesthetic of the Big Brother house. Smith holds your attention with wonderfully inscrutable images, such as the lingering opening drone shot.

It is a film about the essential strangeness of something society insists is the benchmark of normality: the family, a walled city state with its own autocratic rule and untellable secrets of what's truly outside.

I watched this film with some trepidation, however it more than surpassed my expectations. Excellent acting, well written, well directed, well produced and very high production values for a low budget production. It reminded me of watching a BBC drama. "High praise" I here you say, but this feature is very deserving of it in my opinion. There were many good performances, but stand out performances from Nina Taylor as Lauren, Max Rudd as Ethan Wright and Ann-Marie Doggett as Rachel Boon really were the icing on the cake. I hope this movie and it's contributors get the recognition they deserve. 10/10 for an Indy project.

The main actors were great but the ones that never had many words (extras) were pretty poor. But all of you people out there you should try acting it's not easy when your filming scenes that could go on and on every day remembering your lines working with a director who wants it perfect. Watch it again and lets see your next review. Well done to all who were in this. The main characters especially. So please watch it again 3 times if you have to. This film has a bloody good story to it. The Director knew what they were doing and very well written and great casting with some great talent on board. Very well done.