Sunday 25 October 2020

FILM REVIEW: Silver Screen #2 - Bolton Film Festival


Two more short films from the 'Silver Screen' category at this year's online Bolton Film Festival.

1. Milk - New Zealand - Dir: Penny Hunt


Rural New Zealand, 1945. A young female farmer on her farm, managing alone since her husband is at war, wakes one evening to an unusual noise. We learn that a German U-boot has moored in the bay and two young officers have crept ashore to try and steal some fresh milk from her cows. 

The ensuing kerfuffle is very realistic and the tension is built nicely. even if the storyline and the two Germans' reactions and decisions seemed somehow contrived. The story is nonetheless compelling and truthfully told, and has the feel of being the start of a much longer historical drama. 

The speed at which the U-Boot disappeared underwater and its proximity to shore seemed wrong, although I have to admit to not being an expert. However I did like the cinematography which is beautiful, especially the shots of the sky.

2. Nora - Norway - Dir: Meena Rathor



Spoken in both English and Norwegian and filmed mostly in Mumbai (India), this film about a Norwegian couple, after seven years' marriage, travelling to a fertility clinic in India in order for them to have a baby using a surrogate mother - a young Indian girl - comes across much more like a documentary than a feature style film. 

It is however sympathetically told but very slow moving. The build-up to the film's conclusion however is nicely done. It's a 'touchy-feely' film with a strong ending.

The film's three protagonists are Aayusha Lahiri, Maria Sand and Mattis Hermann Nyqvist.

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 23/10/20 



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