Seule la terre

Everyone in the reviews is like "Brokeback Mountain this" and "Brokeback Mountain that" reducing both films to the absolutely superficial account "just a gay love story involving sheep herding". This is such a completely different tone, scope, setting, storytelling, type of character portrayal - in fact a completely different cinematic tradition from Brokeback Mountain, that it makes me wonder if people assuming an influence/considering the comparison obvious even saw the film.

There's five main characters in the film: Johny the frustrated teen/young adult who reluctantly takes over his dad's farm while he's recovering from a stroke, the dad - a typical hardworking man of few words who, we learn, raised his son alone, the gran who is caring but no-nonsense/unsentimental, the newcomer Gheorghe, a young Romanian farmer with lots of experience and genuine interest for the farm, and then there's the farm itself. The farm has needs, moods, emergencies, and ultimately drives the plot.

It's not a story about the discovery of sexuality, it's a story about the discovery of love and camaraderie, as well as a story of acceptance. Johny's journey towards settling into a life as a farmer is more or less that of the five stages of grief: denial (assisted by heavy pass-out drinking), anger, bargaining, and depression. In this journey Gheorghe becomes his guiding light.

It's beautifully shot, nicely paced, and naturalistically acted. I can hardly find a fault in the artistic result. As for its emotional impact, I can say for sure that I was moved, not only by the love story, nor just by the understated yet powerful portrayal of family bonds, but also by the portrayal of farm life, which (having grown up in a similar setting myself, albeit far far away from the hills of Northern England) made me think how people can be united by common experiences a lot more than by language, ethnicity etc.

This review does NOT contain spoilers.

How do you review a film that leaves you speechless? I'll try my best for this magnificent film recently shown at the Sydney Film Festival to two sellout screenings.

Rarely does a film do such an amazing job at saying so much with so little script. There were probably only 100 lines of dialog but the film conveyed feelings that would be hard to convey in a 500 page book. The cinematography easily filled the gap as the actors executed their craft to perfection. The movie pulled me in and I was totally mesmerized by the story. It was so genuine that you felt as if you were there with them.

Johnny Saxby (played by Josh O'Connor) is stuck in a life of isolation and debilitating loneliness on a Yorkshire sheep farm. His father Martin (Ian Hart) is sick and no longer able to contribute any meaningful labor to help on the farm. The grandmother (Gemma Jones) does everything she can to care for her ailing son Martin while trying to keep her grandson Johnny from going completely off the rails. When lambing season starts Johnny is incapable of handling the workload on his own. To fill the gap the family hire a short term farmhand (Alex Secareanu) to assist Johnny with the work. A visceral "tug of war" starts immediately between the two men in every area of their lives: physical, emotional, psychological, and sexual. It is indescribable and can only be experienced by watching the film. I've never seen it done so well. It is amazing to see a production unfold where the screenplay, cinematography, acting, and landscape conspire so perfectly to tell a story. This is a movie for any adult - regardless of personal attributes or orientation - and captures what it means to be human.

This film is storytelling unbridled. Hiding nothing, the audience was treated with intellectual respect, and there was not a pandering moment to be seen. Regardless of who or what you are, this film will stir up emotions you had forgotten you even had. I highly recommend this rare and special film.

What a wonderful and unusual experience, to see a film without knowing anything about it. Before I knew it I was in Yorkshire. The silence was deafening, emotions unspoken. Then, Josh O'Connor - a miraculous actor - I didn't know who the actor was and that helped enormously to get sucked into his world - exterior and interior - and to live his experience fully. Alec Secareanu produces the perfect emotional blow. Roughness and tenderness in a stunning, totally believable performance that, I know will live in my mind forever. They changed me somehow. I was forced to look at something in a different way, without preconceptions. Gemma Jones and Ian Hart. complete this masterpiece that I intend to see again tonight with a group of friends who, like me, don't know the first thing about the film, other that I loved it. Francis Lee I'm joining the chorus with a heartfelt, thank you.

One wouldn't think that Ang Lee's seminal "Brokeback Mountain" would be ripe for a remake already, but damned if first time feature director Francis Lee hasn't moved the action from the American West to the hills of Yorkshire, England and come up with a comparable film. Recently screened at the 60th Annual San Francisco International Film Festival, "God's Own Country" is the tale of young sheep farmer Johnny Saxby (Josh O'Connor) struggling to keep his family farm going while avoiding coming to terms with his sexuality. Salvation (in many ways) arrives in the form of a Romanian emigrant worker, played by Alec Secareanu.

The film is awaiting a commercial release so a full review isn't possible but let me say that the film is terrifically acted, beautifully shot, occasionally erotic and gut-punchingly emotional. It doesn't skirt away from the realities of the harshness of either farm life or the challenges of living as a gay man in a rural community. Thick accents make the film difficult to understand at times, but a scene between Johnny and his father (Ian Hart) that culminates in two crystal-clear words will make you shudder.

There are some striking similarities to the Lee adaptation of the Annie Proulx story (shirt smelling, again?), but it stands on its own and is, in some ways, an improvement. The ending, in particular, is significantly more uplifting. It also has something to say about the value of immigrants that could stand to be heard in this country.

This is one to look for in a few months at your local independent or art house theater.

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One of the most powerful films I've seen in years, with fearless and authentic lead performances from Josh O'Connor and Alec Secareanu and beautiful, understated writing and direction from Francis Lee. Lee says more in a wordless scene than many filmmakers do in a whole feature.

Joshua James Richards shoots Yorkshire with a cinematic quality rarely seen in British film and operates his hand-held camera with an empathy and intuitiveness that allows him to capture many astonishingly intimate and truthful moments of performance.

It's these telling and tender moments which make up the film - small gestures that carry huge emotional weight. It is testament to Lee's writing and direction, and the performances of his entire cast, that these small moments (a glance, fingertips touching...) carry such a large emotional weight.