Touristes

Ben Wheatley provides one of the year's darkest and funniest comedies in this tale of true love, caravans and dead bodies.

Ever since her terrier Poppy died in a bizarre knitting accident, Tina (Darkplace's Alice Lowe) has lived a sheltered life with her mother. New boyfriend Chris (Steve Oram) decides to show her his world and takes her on a self-proclaimed "erotic odyssey" in his caravan to such wonders as the Crich Tramway Museum, Ribblehead Viaduct and, of course, Keswick Pencil Museum. But with litterbug, National Trust snobs and feral youths running rampant, Tina and Chris inadvertently leave a trail of dead bodies in their wake, as their holiday continues to spiral out of control.

Steve Oram heads up the fantastic cast as the muted, yet brutal, Chris, complementing Alice Lowe's awkward, yet creepy, Tina perfectly. However, the real star is the special effects, which provide some of the most realistic and memorable on screen deaths of the year. The unsettling, albeit hilarious, performances of the two leads is mirrored in the soundtrack, a mix of cheery '80s pop songs and a haunting minimalist score.

Shot in the beautiful Lake District, director Ben Wheatley uses lingering shots and slow-mo in an innovative way, making his comedy edgy whilst poignant. No doubt, this is a very British black comedy. Wheatley shows directorial flair, but reigns it in from his previous work Kill List, leading to a much tighter film, with a concentration on the biting wit of the script.

Sightseers, overall, plays out like a cross between Bonnie & Clyde and In Bruges, leading to a perfect pitch-black comedy that's not for the faint hearted.

When you think of all the millions of dollars invested into epic Hollywood blockbusters, then they turn out to be complete turkeys, you'll be heartened to know that there are still brilliant films being made on a fraction of the budget.

If Lord of the Rings was basically an advert for New Zealand's magnificent landscape, then Sightseers does the same job for the north of England. It's about your 'average' couple as they take their first holiday together, i.e. a romantic caravaning tour of the countryside. However, things soon start taking a turn for the worse and the dead bodies soon start piling up.

I won't go into too much detail about the plot. Some films are better that you know as little as possible about them. All you really need to know about Sightseers is that it comprises of the blackest of comedy around. The humour and tone is very dark indeed. If you think you can laugh at some characters with real human frailties, as they come to terms with each other and how they see life, then you should enjoy this.

It really is a true gem. Sadly Sightseers will never attain the dizzy heights of Hollywood's output, but it really deserves its place as a great British film.

Last year's "Kill List" was one of the creepiest, most disturbing films I had seen in a long time. It's a film that stayed with me long after the screening, and one I encouraged friends and associates to check out. Some still haven't forgiven me.

Imagine the combination of dread/anticipation I felt about the chance to see director Ben Wheatley's latest slice of darkness entitled "Sightseers". Described by some as a "dark comedy", I would say that the only thing possibly darker than Wheatley's sense of humor would be the center of a black hole.

"Sightseers" tells the story of a frumpy British couple off on 'holiday' (as they say,) the problems that come up on such trips, and the unique way they choose to solve them. Saying any more would give too much away. Suffice it to say, may you NEVER come across a couple like this on your vacation.

Is it funny? Yes, it is. But you may hate yourself for laughing. Is it violent? For sure. Exceptionally. But in the context of the story, it has to be. Is it disturbing? Oh, yes it is, but once again Wheatley has made a film that once you've started it, you'll find it difficult to turn away. And, like "Kill List", the ending packs a wallop from which it may take you a while to recover.

Films like "Sightseers" are tough to categorize, and even tougher to recommend. This is not the feel-good hit of the summer. It is a look into the blackest parts of human nature, and how that blackness is often camouflaged by the banality of everyday existence. I wouldn't call Wheatley's films "entertaining", but damned if they don't get an emotional response out of me. So seek it out… but you have been warned.

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SIGHTSEERS is very much a team effort: the two stars (Alice Lowe and Steve Oram) also co-wrote the script. With a distinct nod to earlier films such as Terrence Malick's BADLANDS (1973), it focuses on two lovers, Tina and Chris, who embark on a caravanning holiday that takes a decidedly bloody turn, as they dispose of several innocent victims. Ben Wheatley's cinematic style is certainly startling, with its deliberate use of out-of-sync sound, fantasy sequences, memorable short of gore and a soundtrack that includes work by Soft Cell and Frankie Goes to Hollywood. The script is deadpan yet extremely funny: both protagonists get some valuable one-liners. What is perhaps more interesting, however, is Wheatley's focus on his characters' lives; hitherto they have spent their entire existences in total anonymity: Tina has lived with her mother Carol (Eileen Davies), and lavished all her love on a favorite terrier, who was unfortunately impaled to death on some knitting-needles. The road-trip gives Tina the chance to liberate herself, just like Chris, who dreams of becoming a full-time writer after having been made redundant. The idea of "writing" is significant; it suggest the desire to leave a legacy, to inscribe oneself in the present so as to be remembered. When Chris' writing dreams come to naught, he looks for alternative ways to establish himself; hence his desire to kill so as not to be pushed around by anyone (i.e. treated as a nobody). Tina follows suit; but what Wheatley suggests is that the two of them find it very difficult to work as a team - Chris believes that Tina has plagiarized his idea, and resents her for what she has done. Two serial killers don't attract as much media attention as one. For her part, Tina learns how to acquire self-determination, even though there are moments when she doubts herself. The film's ending takes us by surprise, reminding us that the protagonists were not as much in love as we thought they were. With its Grand Guignol action taking place against a breathtaking backdrop of the rolling hills of Yorkshire and the Lake District, SIGHTSEERS is strong meat, but definitely worth staying with.

What happens when 2 un-complimentary psychopaths go on a holiday caravan adventure together? A whole lot of murder, apparently.

What starts off as an innocent vacation between two social outcasts- Chris & Tina- quickly takes a darker turn when it becomes clear that Chris is not only a manipulative psychopath, but someone who will resort to murder over the most petty of concerns.

Basically he'll murder anyone who annoys him. But he's gotten quite good at covering up his work and throwing the dogs off his scent.

After witnessing one of these outbursts first hand, Tina comes around and begins to embrace the ethos of her beloved. And once she pops her murder cherry, she starts to realize that she can use random violence and murder to manipulate others- particularly Chris- with the best of 'em, if not better.

This drives Chris mad. He thinks she's too chaotic- a liability even. She murders randomly, without the structured justification on which he bases his code. Though, really, she just murders anyone who crosses her, or whoever might arbitrarily be in the vicinity when she gets upset.

Like she did before him, though, Chris eventually comes around to accept Tina's new-found tendencies toward murder.

But it becomes ultimately clear that Tina has taken the upper hand when she discovers Chris' deepest, darkest fantasies- inevitably leading to the conclusion of the film.

Sightseers is another brilliant black comedy-horror concoction from the twisted mind of Ben Wheatley- who is proving himself to be one of the most exciting new director's out there (especially after his $30,000 masterpiece- A Field In England). This film is much in the same vein of his previous two features: Down Terrace and Kill List- though each are original in their own ways. There are some interesting sequences which reference satanism and dark shamans, that will have you pondering on the symbolic meaning. And I do believe I detected some Vertigo influences spun in there. When all is said and done, Sightseers is a darkly hilarious film that is definitely worth a watch.

6 out of 10.