Sightseers: Difference between revisions
Updated caption; apparently others can see the English-language poster now. Still see the French-language one myself for some reason |
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==Plot== |
==Plot== |
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Chris and Tina are a thirtysomething couple going on their first |
Chris and Tina are a thirtysomething couple going on their first holiday together. But their staid caravaning trip to sights such as streetcar and pencil museums quickly turns into a murderous [[folie à deux]]. |
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==Cast== |
==Cast== |
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Revision as of 09:19, 17 May 2013
| Sightseers | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Ben Wheatley |
| Written by | Alice Lowe Steve Oram Amy Jump |
| Produced by | Edgar Wright Jenny Borgars Katherine Butler Claire Jones Matthew Justice Nira Park Danny Perkins Andrew Starke |
| Starring | Alice Lowe Steve Oram |
| Cinematography | Laurie Rose |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | StudioCanal UK (UK) IFC Films (USA) Rialto Distribution (Australia, New Zealand) |
Release dates |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $7,384[2] |
Sightseers is a British black comedy thriller film directed by Ben Wheatley and is written by and stars Alice Lowe and Steve Oram, with additional material from Amy Jump.[3] The film was selected to be screened in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.[4][5]
Plot
Chris and Tina are a thirtysomething couple going on their first holiday together. But their staid caravaning trip to sights such as streetcar and pencil museums quickly turns into a murderous folie à deux.
Cast
- Steve Oram as Chris
- Alice Lowe as Tina
Production
The characters came together seven years before the film came out as Lowe and Oram swapped stories based on their common background and childhood holiday experiences. However, the pitch kept getting turned down for being too dark, so they put it online and Lowe sent the link to Edgar Wright, who she had worked with on Hot Fuzz. Wright greenlit the project, so Lowe and Oram did more research and took a caravanning holiday to the locations that would go on to be featured in the film.[6] Ben Wheatley has said that all the locations were very helpful, even after they explained the nature of the film, because they "tried to make sure that it was open and fair to places, and that they weren’t the butt of jokes."[7]
The two were also inspired by Withnail and I.[6]
Reception
The critical reception has been good, with review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes giving it a rating of 88% based on 34 reviews.[8]
Peter Bradshaw reviewed the film twice for The Guardian, first after its preview at Cannes, when he suggested "Wheatley could be suffering from difficult third album syndrome: this is not as mysterious and interesting as Kill List; its effects are more obvious and the encounters between the naturalistically conceived antiheroes and the incidental, sketch-comedy posh characters is a little uneasy. By the end, I got the sense that in terms of character and narrative the film was running out of ideas – just a bit."[9] However, he looked at it again on its theatrical release and admitted that "when I first saw it, I think I might have got out of bed the right side" going on to say "a second viewing has further revealed just how superb are the effortless performances of Steve Oram and Alice Lowe, who are the movie's writers (working with Wheatley's longtime co-writer Amy Jump), and whose creative ownership makes a purely auteurist comparison with Kill List slightly less relevant." He suggests a number of parallels: "an obvious comparison with Mike Leigh's Nuts in May, and there are even traces of Victoria Wood and Alan Bennett, whose gentler, observational comedy is turned into something nightmarish, bringing in an exquisitely horrible Readers' Wives aesthetic", concluding that "[t]he chilling and transgressive flourishes are carried off with deadpan confidence; it's a distinctive and brutally unsettling piece of work""[10] Kim Newman wrote in Empire magazine that Sightseers is a "uniquely British blend of excruciating comedy of embarrassment and outright grue, not quite as disorientating in its mood shifts as Kill List but just as impressive a film."[11] The Guardian asked an editor of Caravan Magazine for his opinion and he thought the film, which he described as "absolutely brilliant", accurately captured the details of caravanning holidays[12]
However, the praise wasn't unanimous. The Financial Times' Nigel Andrews conclusion was "There are a few laughs; a few wise nods. But before the end fatigue arrives and doesn’t go away."[13]
References
- ^ http://www.filmdates.co.uk/films/4152-sightseers/
- ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=sightseers.htm
- ^ Plumb, Ali (3 October 2011). "Ben Wheatley Is Now Shooting Sightseers". Empire. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
- ^ Leffler, Rebecca (24 April 2012). "Cannes 2012: Michel Gondry's 'The We & The I' to Open Director's Fortnight". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 25 April 2012.
- ^ "2012 Selection". quinzaine-realisateurs.com. Directors' Fortnight. Retrieved 25 April 2012.
- ^ a b Godfrey, Alex (23 November 2012). "Sightseers: Alice Lowe and the secret terrors of caravanning". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
- ^ Brew, Simon (29 November 2012). "Ben Wheatley interview: Sightseers, Freakshift, A Field In England". Den of Geek. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
- ^ Sightseers at Rotten Tomatoes
- ^ Bradshaw, Peter (24 May 2012). "Cannes 2012: Sightseers – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
- ^ Bradshaw, Peter (29 November 2012). "Sightseers – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
- ^ Newman, Kim (25 November 2012). "Empire's Sightseers Movie Review". Empire. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
- ^ Barnett, Laura (4 December 2012). "A caravan enthusiast's verdict on Sightseers". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
- ^ Andrews, Nigel (29 November 2012). "Feeding frenzy in the barnyard". Financial Times. Retrieved 2 December 2012.