Palace of Fun brings intrigue, betrayal and mystery to a family estate in Brighton as mysterious drifter Finn comes between a brother and sister as his secrets begin to control him.

After meeting Finn (Andrew Mullen) in a local nightclub, sensitive artist Lily (Phoebe Naughton) takes him into her parents home while they holiday in Italy. Not to be be outdone, jealous and vindictive brother Jamie (George Stocks) goes in search of leverage. Events take a darker turn when his secret is discovered as Jamie begins to toy with Finn, and his sister Lily.

Director Eadword Stocks,along with co-writer, brother and star George Stocks have created a poetic, quiet and melancholy piece with Palace of Fun never quite hitting the energy levels of a typical crime thriller. This is not to say this is a bad point. In fact, quite the opposite. The film powerfully portrays how normal life often exists alongside intrigues and secrets such as these. The Stocks Bros. should also be praised for dealing with highly dramatic incidents with poise, control and restraint; instead they’ve created mystery amongst trauma.

The level of restraint in Palace of Fun should be praised, but it does in some ways cause it to drag on in the middle and become slightly boring. I recommend not switching off if you do feel like this as the end result is worth it. George Stocks gives a good performance as a spoilt ‘poshboy’ whilst Naughton portrays a plain well raised girl incredibly well (if that’s what she was going for) and Mullen produces an average performance as Finn. Stocks is most likely to light up the scene, but n the whole performances are average.

Palace of Fun goes down for me as an interesting and good film, well worth a watch if you have nothing in particular to watch, but if you’ve had a film in your thought for a while, I’d go for that first.

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