I heard about Fritjof Ryder's first film through a podcast and became interested to see it. The film is by no means perfect but for a very young director it is a landmark achievement to have a feature film in the BFI film festival official selection.
One of the film's main problems is that the nearly unknown cast are completely overshadowed by the brilliance of Mark Rylance, and whilst his performance is very strong I would question if his stardom may have stolen the limelight from the films other actors, particularly the quieter performance of Rory Alexander.
The film does benefit from brilliant sound design, which gives an ominous presence to the film, as well as some interesting direction and cinematography which gives the film a unique style and a new take on suburban/rural En.
The film is far better in the parts where it is not swamping itself too heavily in it's influences (David Lynch is the clearest here) and Inland could benefit from less ambiguity and more narrative.
Overall, I am interested to see what Fritjof Ryder could do with bigger budget and more experience under his belt. Don't dismiss him as a poor filmmaker yet; he has to start somewhere and personally I think Inland suggests that he has more to offer in the cinematic world.
One of the film's main problems is that the nearly unknown cast are completely overshadowed by the brilliance of Mark Rylance, and whilst his performance is very strong I would question if his stardom may have stolen the limelight from the films other actors, particularly the quieter performance of Rory Alexander.
The film does benefit from brilliant sound design, which gives an ominous presence to the film, as well as some interesting direction and cinematography which gives the film a unique style and a new take on suburban/rural En.
The film is far better in the parts where it is not swamping itself too heavily in it's influences (David Lynch is the clearest here) and Inland could benefit from less ambiguity and more narrative.
Overall, I am interested to see what Fritjof Ryder could do with bigger budget and more experience under his belt. Don't dismiss him as a poor filmmaker yet; he has to start somewhere and personally I think Inland suggests that he has more to offer in the cinematic world.