- A murderous adventure
Haven't posted a review for a while but on vacation I got to know some really wacky people I have to tell you about. Their names are Tina and Chris, they are from England and have planned to go on a trip through the country with their caravan. What is supposed to be happy holidays is soon going down an unexpected road in this deadpan black comedy by director Ben Wheatley.
Tina, who has probably spent her whole life in this house is certainly nervous to leave but at the same time it is liberating. At the side of her darling Chris, who seems to be a quirky but gentle guy, she feels confident. On their way through the country they visit pencil museums and other fancy places and they meet both enemies and friends on camping sites and on visitations. It's a lot of fun. But every once in a while when something is not working out the way Chris wants it to he reveals a different side of him full of anger and unease. Then after another arguement at a campsite Tina realizes that Chris has a secret and a very questionable way of dealing with his problems. But more importantly Tina also finds out something about herself, something she didn't even know that it existed. They continue their journey ... while more and more people drop dead along the way ...
I kept thinking a lot about Sightseers after it was over which relativized the surprising impression the film had created in course of the screening and the ambivalent feelings towards it. I was quite irritated. But there was something off with the tone of the picture. I was not really as entertained in the laugh out loud way I had expected - but I was not really disappointed either. There was something more to it that could be easily overlooked if you're going in with wrong expectations. There are laughs in it for sure and the humor has the correct vibe but most of the time I was rather smiling than laughing and, considering the rather quiet atmosphere, the rest of the theater did not fall of their chairs in that regard either. But what was so surprising was the rather complex and extremely dark subject matter.
Of course it's the awkward situations, the crude, british humor and the bloody edge that helps to set the tone. But it's the film's story and the unusually interesting and conflicted characters that stay in your mind. On top of that the whole 'Bonnie and Clyde'-relationship aspect ascribes a certain poetic note to that love existing and even flowering under such circumstances and I can tell you that the ending offers an absolutely ingenius, hilarious and thought provoking punchline.
Funnily enough the film I was reminded of - in terms of theme not tone or style - is Lars von Trier's "Antichrist", which is as far away from a comedy as you can get ... unless of course you find genital mutilation funny. But what Antichrist is about is in the end the exact same thing that Sightseers is dealing with, too. That is to say: Two people going out into the countryside to explore their evil nature and eventually start to embrace this previously unknown or at least suppressed side of their personality. In both cases it is the woman who comes to this realization that there is some kind of brooding, dark spirit inside of her and like Antichrist Sightseers occasionally features scenes filled with mystic symbolism and strange reoccuring motives like witches and witchcraft and that kind.
It's this quite consuming darkness underneath and the evolving protagonist that mark the highlights of this trip. I probably wouldn't drive a thousand miles for this tourist feature, but when you are just passing by it is definately worth the stop.
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