Every Friday, our film critic Grace Kinsey will review a new release at the cinema. This week, she gives her verdict on The Darkest Universe.
The new dark comedy from the directors of Black Pond (Will Sharpe, Tom Kingsley) is an intensely emotional, engrossing and highly unique missing persons story. It shows a brother's search for his sister, who, along with her boyfriend, has disappeared on a houseboat down the canals of London. More than that, though, it is a story about loss: fundamentally the loss of a mother, the gradual loss of effective communication, and ultimately a loss of control.
The theme of loss of control, in particular, is beautifully and consistently present in the film, thanks to its non-linear and well paced narrative structure, which emphatically portrays and seamlessly intertwines the perspectives of Zac and his missing sister Alice. Similarly, director of photography Will Hanke uses glittering, haunting shots of light and shadow, and gorgeous, expressionistic images of nature, which act a visual representation of Alice's escape into freedom, contrasting with Zac's self-entrapment as he tries to cling on to what is crumbling around him.
Less structurally natural are the slightly incongruous UFO sequences which appear every now and then throughout the film. They seem to interrupt the story's smooth flow, which, in a film about processes and progression is slightly disappointing.
However, if these sequences occasionally detract, the audience is bound to be drawn straight back in by the captivating and profound relationships which form on screen. The relationship between Alice and her boyfriend Toby is particularly charming.
Furthermore the script is insightful, engaging, and – despite the dark subject matter of the film – extremely funny. The writers of The Darkest Universe (Will Sharpe and Tiani Ghosh) have shown an admirable amount of sensitivity and intelligence in their decision to create a comedy out of their sad story. For example, Zac could easily be perceived by the audience as the film's bad guy. But thanks to humour, we take him less seriously, and therefore like him more. Sharpe and Ghosh effectively use humour to develop the characters into entire, relatable, complex beings; and, still using the accessibility of their characters when the story comes to a close, they create the perfect ending – an ending that is satisfying and meaningful.
It is a great shame that, in its nature as an 'indie' British film, The Darkest Universe has not been more widely released: it provides almost everything you could desire from any blockbuster, and arguably more depth, whilst delivering all this with skill, on both a visual and a narrative level.
4/5
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