Starve Acre

You know sometimes when you hear about a certain film from film critics where basically most of them critically acclaim a film or at least agree that you should see it? A film that most people might have heard about while others have no idea what you are talking about? You might think this must be director Richard Keller´s cult classic Donnie Darko i am talking about from 2001. And i can tell you right now that this is a completely different film on a much smaller budget. A film that may not be mentioned that often anymore unfortunately, perhaps because it is considered to be unknown in certain parts in this world since it wasn´t released theatrically everywhere. We are talking about the 2013 British dark comedy horror film known as A Field In England from director Ben Wheatley. I remember back in 2013 when i was hearing a lot of positive words regarding this film, especially from British film critics who loved that this was quite a different film experience taking place during the Civil War in 17th-century England. There are several reasons why this is such a great film and let me begin by saying i love that this film is filmed in black and white. It gives the film a completely different look and there are some quite funny scenes in this film as well, proving once more British comedy is usually more funny than the Americans. The fact that the horror elements works well in this film combined with comedy just makes this film more entertaining. The acting is top quality from the whole cast and i would highly recommend everyone to watch A Field In England if you want a different film experience, no matter if you rent the film on VOD or buy a physical copy. Speaking of British films there is one film this year i have been waiting to see simply called Starve Acre, a folk horror film from director Daniel Kokotaljo ( i really enjoyed his full feature directorial debut film Apostasy from 2017 ). I am a big fan of British horror in general so i try to check out the most interesting titles and Starve Acre caught my attention right after i saw the trailer. I decided to get the UK blu ray release of this film to see, is this possibly one of the better movie releases this year in general or is Starve Acre not as good as you might expect?

Richard ( Matt Smith ), an archaeologist, and his wife, Jules ( Morfydd Clark ), lives with their son Owen ( Arhtur Shaw ), who claims he have been hearing some whistling sounds. So Richard starts to investigate mythic folklore about an ancient folk tree on his land. During his investigations, a dark and sinister force pursues his home.

I really love when a film grabs you by the neck and makes you feel like you don´t want the hand to let you go, and this is exactly what Starve Acre does from beginning to the end. This is such a dark, sad but really fascinating film dealing with the loss of a child. How do you as parents to a child deal with the grief, the anger inside knowing your child is no longer with you and there is nothing you can do about it? Only a parent who have lost a child can only understand how painful this must be and how you try to go on in life. This film manage to capture the emotional hell parents in this horrible tragedy have to go through, where nothing has no meaning anymore. Of course a lot of these emotions and facial expressions are brought to us in a very powerful and realistic performances by lead actors Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark as the parents Richard and Juliette. The beautiful folklore influences in this film matches perfectly into the very effective horror story that we are presented with. As we find out that Richard´s father was not only a mentally unstable man we also see how deeply rooted he was in a reigious cult. It is amost like the British landscape is filled with death wherever you go, as if it is a perfect environment for eternal suffering. There are several details that make Starve Acre such a unique film experience with everything from excellent camera work, the grieving tone that the whole film perfectly shape surrounding the main characters and the disturbing past of British history that grows deeply underneath your skin. I also feel that the cinematography from Adam Scarth is really detailed filled with passion. Director Daniel Kokotajlo proves once more why he is the future of independent cinema with another exquisite film that will easily land on my list of best films of 2024. Starve Acre show that there is still hope for quality films and i am really looking forward to the next script that Daniel Kokotaljo lay his hands on. This is without a doubt a must buy in your film collection and a film to show future film students how a quality film should look like.

Rating: DDDD