Sightseers
Director: Ben Wheatley
Screenwriters: Alice Lowe and Steve Oram
Cast: Alice Lowe and Steve Oram
Synopsis: Chris wants to finally show sheltered Tina the world, and he wants to do it his way—on a journey through the British Isles in his beloved Abbey Oxford Caravan, visiting such illustrious sites as the National Tramway Museum, the Ribblehead Viaduct, the Cumberland Pencil Museum, and the rolling countryside in between. But it doesn’t take long for the dream to fade. Litterbugs, noisy teenagers, and prebooked caravan sites soon conspire to shatter Chris’s dreams and send him, and anyone who rubs him the wrong way, over a very jagged edge.
Performances:
Lowe and Oram were freakin' awesome in this movie! I loved how they portrayed these dry, awkward, and humorously twisted characters! It were so fun to watch these likeable and polite characters be pushed to the edge of self-control and their descent into comedic madness.
Story and Direction:
If you haven't seen Wheatley's Kill List yet, you should watch it now. Especially if you like disturbing films. Sightseers is nothing like that movie, but it will give you a sense of hat kind of crazy movies that the director makes. Having seen Kill List, I was incredibly excited to see this movie up at the festival, it was on my must watch list coming up to Sundance, and it didn't disappoint! This was such a great film. It was such a perfect mix of comedy and insanity. It's my favorite film at the festival that I've seen so far.
The film is an incredibly twisted and pitch black love story that follows two plain middle-aged lovers named Chris and Tina on a cross-country killing spree of death. What starts out as a carefully planned roadtrip to see some popular tourist attractions around England, turns into a bloody nightmare for other tourists. After the main character, Chris, accidentally backs their caravan over an annoying litterbug that was ruining his enjoyment of a heritage tour, their trip gets even more interesting. He starts to kill other people that he finds offensive on their trip. In the beginning Tina believes it must be an accident, but as the body count grows, and other things are revealed, she ends up developing a taste for killing as well. She actually becomes overly enthusiastic about it. Turns out their different views of homicide put a strain on their relationship.
Wheatley a awesome job bringing this story to life. For those of you not familiar with Wheatley's work, this s going to completely catch you off guard. What starts out as a typical laugh-out-loud dark comedy with fun sarcastic humor, turns into a brutally murderous film. It still manages to keep that hilarious edge though! It all leads up to a fantastic ending that I thought was great.
One other thing I want to point out is the cinematography... it was absolutley beautiful.
Similar To:
I guess the movie can compare this to films like Bonnie and Clyde and Natural Born Killers, because of it's cross country killing spree. Only this one is a hell of a lot more funny and entertaining. The characters were also much more interesting to watch.
Chances That You'll See It In Theaters:
It doesn't look like there's a release date set of the U.S. yet, but it will eventually get one, and I'm sure it will be a limited release. If it opens up in an area near you, you've got to check it out!
Trailer:
