For Those in Peril

The Edinburgh International Film Festival 2013 Presents:

Writer, Director Paul Wright creates a beautiful poetic tale, exploring the power of love and loss in his deep, visceral and emotionally charged feature debut.

Aaron, an awkward outsider in his small fishing community, returns home after surviving the boating tragedy that claimed the lives of all else aboard, including his elder brother Michael (Jordan Young). Aaron, who feels increasingly frightened and isolated, can remember no details of what happened. He not only struggles with the guilt felt from being the only survivor, but the guilt imposed on him by a community who will not readily forgive him for being alive, while their loved ones are dead.

In his loneliness and anguish, Aaron reaches out Michael's fiancée (Nichola Burley) which fuels the communities suspicions and anger further, in particular Nicola's father (Michael Smiley).

"Do you think if you believe anything enough, it'll become true?" asks Aaron. With his state of mind worsening by the day, Aaron, propelled by folklore and local superstition clings to the hope that Michael is still alive, and thus sets out to save him from "The devil in the ocean".

Wright's feature debut is a strong character drama that explores psychological trauma through a visceral coloured palette and a rich, compelling and thought provoking narrative. Wright uses almost every aid at his disposal to ensure the audience feels and experiences Aarons increasing fragility, torment and state of mind, and he balances it note perfect. This is achieved through a tapestry of visual formats (Super8 footage), sound, folklore and news articles that blur the lines between reality and fantasy. These methods of storytelling never force an idea, but rather tease the audience with possibilities, allow them to draw their own conclusions.

Wrights prominent direction and vision is felt throughout the narrative, but it must be said, his cast deserve as much recognition. George Mackay gives a powerful, sad and heartbreakingly honest performance as our troubled lead, Aaron.

Kate Dickie provides the emotional centre of the film, and exists as Aarons only buoy in stormy waters, in a town that has outcast one of their own. Cathy performance although understated encapsulates the heartbreak and strength of a mother who wrestles with her own grief, whilst trying remain strong for her now, only remaining son. Both performances are quite simply stunning and career defining.

It could be argued that the film becomes stagnant in its second act, refusing to move on in narrative, busying itself with visual flourishes and techniques that slow the pace. I however enjoyed these moments and found they added intrigue, beauty and mystery to an already compelling film.

In-Short

As someone I know put it, "For those in peril is as deep, scary and as beautiful as the sea itself"

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Paul Wright's imaginative take on grief, 'For Those In Peril', tells the story of a young man who survives a fishing accident only to be blamed by his community for coming back alive. This could be a really powerful story, not just about loss, but also about how social normality hides the terrible reality that we do not in fact love one another in equal amounts. Yet the construction of the film is part that of a documentary, and in part mystical in affect; and the two aspects prove a slightly awkward fit: it was well acted, but I found it less moving than I felt I should have done. There's also an oddity that, perhaps because of funding, the film is set in Scotland but appears to have been partly filmed in Yorkshire, a minor incongruity, but pointless and thus grating.

Some great performances, but the story really drags in places and leads to a typically non-sensical ending that ruined it for me.

Aaron is the sole survivor of a fishing boat accident that still pains the community. Having lost his brother in the accident, Aaron grieves, but his grief gives way to an increasingly fragile grip on reality. For Those In Peril could have been a myth-imbibed exploration of tragedy and sibling rivalry. It could have been an insightful depiction of unhinged grief. It could have been a story of personal redemption achieved in the face of a hostile community. While it hints at exploring all of these potential story lines, what it ends up being is an under-realised mish-mash that fails to cohere around any thematic, emotional or narrative thread. The film ever-so studiously chases art-house credentials, but invokes clunky genre devices that would make Michael Bay blush. For example, there is no need to wonder what the community makes of Aaron's miraculous survival of the tragedy, as this is relayed constantly in off-screen expositional comments by various bystanders. The cliché scene where someone with a lot on their mind dries up in front of a karaoke audience, so often seen on screen but never in real life, makes a jaded outing here. (Who in real life would ever ask a grieving mother to get on stage and sing karaoke?). You do not have to have spent time in fishing communities such as Ullapool and Shetland to feel the lack of authenticity of setting, though it will jar all the more if you have. Similarly, if you have known grief, Kate Dickie's one-note moping around will not invite empathy. In terms of a mind becoming unhinged, the film does better, with George MacKay's performance occasionally evoking both fear and concern. But these moments are far too few, as the script seems unable to handle the task of developing rounded characters, and falls back instead on lazy invocation of myth to bind the story, what there is of it, together. I am all for eschewing linear narrative in favour of an immersive experience, but none of the imagery is particularly memorable. The climax places its bet on one striking image, but instead that is fudged in an extreme wide shot, suggesting the production design of the model was not up to the job of providing the emotional whump this film requires at its end. Ostensibly bold and experimental, this film instead is tame and unimaginative. Perhaps learning how to handle the basics of simple story, well-told, would have been a better move for these clearly uninspired filmmakers.

Weird and wonderful. It's an experimental film, so don't expect a conventional narrative. Great acting, gorgeous cinematography.