In his second official feature Norfolk, writer and director Martin Radich takes the viewer on an ominous pastoral journey, using the stereotypical rolling countryside and reclusive characters to portray a sinister pocket of time set in this often romanticised county.
The opening scene provides our initial contact with innocent and curious character, named simply Boy (Barry Koeghan), which sets the tone as he describes his upbringing in an air of admiration for his father. The clips are filmed using grainy, home movie footage and it is this technique combined with Boy’s innocuous ramblings that make the starter reminiscent of Harmony Korine’s Gummo.
The following scenes reinforce the relationship between Boy and his father, Man, played by Denis Ménochet, who gives an intense and disturbing performance as sultry ex-militant. Radich creates a surreal backdrop as the two sit in view of TV screens showing seemingly irrelevant images and mirror each other’s actions at the dinner table within the fading walls of their shelter.
Various clues are used to piece together the complicated puzzle of Norfolk. Man stares at a fading wedding ring tattoo as he tunes in on an old army radio, suggesting a history that he is not willing to let go. As the story progresses, Boy begins to break away from his stifled home life when he falls for a mute who works on the farm with a group of aged, country folk. However, the relationship is threatened when Man is summoned to fight one last battle and his personal and vengeful path become a destructive force upon Boy’s happiness.
Radich uses slow pace and sparse dialogue, opening the plot up to interpretation; this is clearly a technique favoured and further emphasised through avoiding the use of names. While this might not do so well with commercial markets, the stark beauty and surreal backdrop has led the feature to be nominated for the Best Film Competition at EEFF 2015 and ultimately provides an ambiguous and intriguing portrayal of a post-apocalyptic world where time is forgotten and fury is not.
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