Sightseers
Cast: Alice
Lowe, Steve Oram
Director: Ben Wheatley
Running
Time: 88 Minutes
Ben Wheatley’s strange, unsettling brand of violent but darkly comic storytelling first seen in his deeply unsettling Kill List continues with Sightseers. Alternating between odious and hilarious, it doesn’t skimp on the blood or the charm. It certainly pushes the limits of acceptability, all the while daring you not to burst out with laughter. Imagine an even more off-kilter Mike Leigh’s “Nuts In May” and take the first word of that title quite literally.
Wheatley knows how to unbalance and unnerve an audience just when they think they’re catching on to his tricks. Written by its co-stars Alice Lowe and Steve Oram, they play a compatibly psychopathic couple who decide to travel through England by caravan. Tina (Alice Lowe) has finally found a bloke who truly understands her and is willing to remove her from an annoying mother and a tedious domestic existence.
Chris (Steve Oram) decides to take Tina on this excursion into the countryside to experience the sights, become closer, and begin the book he has always wanted to write. However, when real life irritances get in the way of enjoyment, Chris’ deep-seated violent streak begins to rear its ugly head, forcing Tina to decide what she’s willing to do for true love. It’s a simple story about the nature of relationships that goes to some extremely dark places.
Lowe and Oram brilliantly inhabit their characters with a believability and sweetness that carries on throughout even when things become increasingly nervy and nasty. It might be an extremely black comedy, but the film deals with some very real issues, and Wheatley tackles these matters with smart direction and total unpredictability - right up until the final heartbreaking moment.
