The Diana Clone

A decade-in-the-making, Jason Ritchie's 'Diana Clone' is a bizarre, convoluted, yet fascinating and layered British thriller. Almost Lynchian in its absurdity, it is not your typical mainstream film, but rather, a cult-classic in the making.

It is a film that must be experienced to be believed. I came across this film by pure accident, happening across it through Facebook advertising. I purchased it on Amazon Prime out of curiosity, and wow. I'm very glad I did.

The plot is so dense, it is almost incomprehensible to the casual viewer. But the film's subtle symbolism and characterisation, especially with its props, which are all handmade (my favourite is the motif of Door Numbers).

It is no surprise this was famed producer Harvey Weinstein's top film of 2017 - a man with an eye for cult classics in the making. In a perfect world, this would be up there with features such as 'The Room', 'Pulp Fiction', 'Fight Club' and 'Stalker'. Sadly, as we no longer live in the era of cult classics like 'Burger Cop', it's unlikely to find this at a midnight screening; instead, most will end up catching it online.

For a budget of £37,000, Ritchie has made a serviceable motion picture, better and more funny and cleverer than films made by established directors with 100x that amount of money. In other words, 'Where's my sauce, b*tch?"

9/10 - watch it twice, and remember - watch the scenes that AREN'T there. THAT is true cinema. 10/10

For fans of films that are so bad they're good, this is for you. The plot is just about coherent enough to follow, but there are plenty of bizarre and esoteric twists and turns. Performances are mixed but with a drink in hand it's quite fun.

Really hope the guys from Riff Tracks do a riff of this, so much material!

I watched the entire movie (free on Amazon Prime) and it was a religious experience. Every time you think the movie has reached the lowest point of coherence, it gets worse. I have genuinely never watched a film that was this poorly plotted . and yet SO captivatingly incomprehensible. Whilst The Room plot makes significantly more sense The Diana Clone is an utter acid trip and most characters never approach humanity. It was Definitely entertaining, just.... also incredibly inexplicable, and possibly not entertaining in the way it was going for. At least a few times in the movie it had me questioning my sanity. Sometimes I would re-watch a scene to tell if I wasn't paying attention or if it really was incomprehensible, and it would always be the latter. Incomprehensible, bonkers, but for some reason I just CAN'T give this film a bad rating - 4/5.