Debut film from highly touted Fridtjof Ryder released 16th June
Set in rural England, Inland explores the troubled reality a young man faces following the strange disappearance of his mother some years previously.
Following a prelude where the boy whose character name is the Man played by Rory Alexander is released from an institution after a period of time, he returns to his home town to settle down with a father figure named Dunleavy played by Oscar winning actor Mark Rylance.
The film is shot with an unforgiving close up of its actors throughout, the audience being made to feel uneasy by what is transpiring, the man is having to cope with a lot following his mother's strange disappearance, and this is a point of view film in that respect with Alexander featuring in every scene.
Mixed with experimental footage to depict his fragile mental psyche of visions and memories splintering his day-to-day life; Ryder has moulded a modern folk tale within this rural landscape for the modern era.
Following on from the January release of Mark Jenkin's Enys Men and even Alex Garland's MEN, the clash of individual and nature and what that collision causes is certainly in vogue currently.
Most folk tales incorporate a quest of sorts, the Man in this instance is searching for answers with a cast of characters eager to look after him for the best. Rylance in particular is channelling his famous role of Rooster from Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem to a degree, and acting as Executive Producer also, he is guiding the man in more ways than one.
The journey the man must navigate is unsettling at times helped by the ambient score utilised by Bartholomew Mason, evoking a disharmony amidst the harmonious surroundings of the woodlands. Coupled with the haunting voiceover of the mother by Kathryn Hunter and you have an eerie creation that is both stylistic and substantial.
An atmospheric and moody tale of life, grief and family, Inland is a film of great promise and character from a first-time director.
Inland is out on Friday 16th June on limited release from Verve Pictures.
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