Saw this last night at the Glasgow Film Festival with the director and producer present. Joanna Hogg is really an exciting new talent in British cinema. Her influences would appear to be Bergman, Antonioni, Ozu and other classic art-house masters rather than the wan rom-coms and thrillers that tend to clutter up British cinema. The story of a middle-aged woman who joins her friends on holiday in Italy is intriguingly enigmatic but retains an air of mystery and unease as we are allowed to eavesdrop on conversations, hint at relationships and speculate on what seems to be a deeply unhappy existence. The whole film was scripted but the dialogue retains the feel of spontaneity and moments snatched from real life. A challenging film but well worth checking out. Hope it finds a British distributor.
