Despair

Watched on Amazon Prime. Despair is a slow burn psychological thriller, emphasis on slow. The film moves at a snail's pace, which wouldn't be a problem if it was an interesting film, but it isn't.

Dispair follows a couple in their holiday home in the Highlands during the winter. One day the couple find a woman nearly frozen to death, but all is not as it seems as the woman seems to have sinister motives.

Story wise it's decent but the execution is fairly bad. On a technical level the film doesn't perform well. Sound is muddy and fairly poor in parts. Cinematography isn't great, interior shots are noisy and ugly to look at but exterior shots look quite nice.

Acting is poor, performances feel amateur and wooden. Editing is also bad and the soundtrack is uninteresting.

Could have been decent but sadly isn't.

This film started out interestingly enough, with a family in a cabin in an isolated area beset by a winter storm. In the beginning, there is a couple and a bright little girl. The girl's mother comes to pick her up, leaving the couple on their own. They seem like a very loving couple. Shortly after the girl leaves, the couple come across a woman outside their home, half- frozen in the snow. They bring her in and revive her, but with their car on the blink and also their phone. they cannot summon medical aid for her. With no means of transportation, they must keep her as their guest, until better weather arrives. The interloper, begins displaying unusual behaviour, which over time becomes more and more concerning. The movie is well-acted, and shot, slow ,but with enough tension to hold one's attention. The music is very well done. In the end, it turns into a depressing nightmare, which I found difficult to bear.

I stopped watching this after the first few lines of dialogue.

"Looks like you've been having a good time". ??? It is not visible from her appearance, or surroundings.

"You know I don't like surprises"

Who could write such poor script?

Probably been written by some who hasn't been around kids, or doesn't have a family.

....Let's try this script writers...a little more realistic.

"Hello darling...."

"Hi Dad"

"Mummy O. K?"

"Yup, shall I bring anything?" before closing boot and entering abode.

What's not to dislike?! This was one of those rare movies I stopped halfway through. Just a slow, plodding film that I'm sure will have some shocking ending, but I wasn't about to torture myself getting there. Despair is the perfect word to describe this "arty" film. No thanks!

Fell into the trap of assuming this may be a hidden gem because it was on a major streaking service, Amazon Prime, but wow was I mistaken.

I live in Scotland so was drawn to the location of the film. Don't be fooled by this, of the 3 main characters, none are Scottish.

The film starts with some pretty poor acting and needless introductions to pointless characters. The location and drone shots are good, but anything on the interior is borderlone excruciating to watch. The editing is poor with some almost seizure inducing cuts that serve no purpose to the narrative; if anything it only serves to tell the viewer that the interactions you are watching have been filmed in multiple takes, which must have been torture for the cast.

As many of the reviews state, this is a slow burner, but a slow burner for a dud firework. The story goes on with no real depth, the characters are boring and frustrating to watch, and the twist is so futile that it doesn't justify any of the previous 60 or 70 minutes of your wasted time.

I don't like to slate movies, but I don't recommend watching this unfortunately.