Philophobia

I got to see this film almost by accident. I wanted to see one more film before they close down cinemas in England again, and this one sounded the least worst of an uninspiring bunch of films that were showing this week. I'm glad I chose it. It was unexpectedly good. It has the kind of character-driven plot I like most and the story is slow moving but it draws you in and holds your attention through all the turns of the plot, right to the end.

It's probably difficult to put anything really new into a coming of age film, and this has a few familiar tropes - the love triangle, lads doing reckless stunts, discovering sex, the end of school prank . What distinguishes it is that it is perfectly cast and the actors' performances are exactly right. Also that it well conveys the separateness of the teenage world. The adults have little to do with the young character's lives and none of them seem to have fathers still living at home. It's also very cinematic and makes good use of the landscape in the Five Valleys area of the Cotswolds, where it wasfiled.. It was only subsequently that I found out that this is the director's first film. I also found that it has had a few dismissive reviews in the mainstream press, including one in The Guardian that was frankly rude. It deserves better. A pity that the cinemas are being closed again only a week after it was first released. Maybe it will get another run after the 2nd December, if the British government doesn't extend the lockdown.

It would be more fulfilling to spend 2 hours screaming in a dark room than watching this. The dialogue is constantly bland and adds nothing. There is a good movie in here somewhere but it's about 20 minutes long. The extra 100 minutes is literally meaningless.

A film about teenagers, 17 years old at the end of high school. The film takes place focusing on a teenager and the passion he has for a colleague of his. The film follows adolescent psychology. Unfortunately, the film has many "dead times", many boring moments, many weak dialogues, devoid of substance ... for all this, grade 6 seems to me to be high enough.

Just watch it. There's some profundity in there, that we old fogies all recognise, and teenagers will benefit from seeing it on screen.

And some truths, in that the teenage world is still learning how to navigate the 'new normal', post the #MeToo revelations. It's not a world we want them to still be inhabiting, but it's a fact that many of them still are. Hopefully that will change soon. It's not the job of this director to make that happen.

I thought the portrayal of the teenage mind and relationships was well handled, in the time allowed.

Lovely location in the Cotswolds, England (UK).

I'm glad I watched it. Well done Guy Davies, in his directorial debut.

As with most movies that involve a mystery, "Philophobia" reveals the secret life of adolescence within a rustic setting. The forest is the central set for the performances, wherein romantic dreaming, testing friendships, exercising of liberties and independence are all manifested. Inconsistency in storytelling is justified by the final scenes.

All scenes are full of loneliness and searching. Building friendships and romantic experience is undercut through growing up in the single-mom families. There are no images of fatherhood, i.e. children do not have communications with male-parents. This gap in revealing the father-children relationships since the beginning of the movie warns about vulnerability of those teens. Their misbehaving can be explained by the absence of the paternal presence.

The main character, Kai, goes through various challenges during the movie. Kai's choices separate the movie into the chapters. First dilemma - girlfriend Grace, second - boyfriend on that girlfriend, Kenner. Kai's decisions are not consistent, his mind vacillates. The final scenes show that moral choices are hard, but they direct the pathways in people's lives.