Dir: Jon East | Scr: Mick Ford | Novel: Blake Morrison | Ph: Adam Suschitzky | Prod: Christopher Hall | Mus: Robert Lane | Ed: Luke Dunkley | PD: David Roger | Cast: Shaun Evans, Claire Keelan, Genevieve O'Reilly, Rupert Penry-Jones, Alexander Karim, Dan Cohen, Nicola Millbank, Alexander Owen
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A primary school teacher returns to the country home of an old friend – the scene of some as yet unspecified but seemingly catastrophic incident – to personally lead us through the happenings of the previous August bank holiday weekend, when he and his wife spent a few alcohol and testosterone soaked days in the company of said friend and his common-law-wife (plus an interloping fifth wheel and a few assorted children and animals). He tells of hijinks, simmering tensions, sexual rivalries, revelations, and eventually misdeeds, gradually revealing himself to be a rather troubled individual and, for that matter, decidedly unreliable narrator. Evans’s strong central performance holds the attention throughout, but East’s direction lacks the tension and thrills necessary to fully capitalise on Morrison’s interesting source material. D.R. Hood's similarly themed Wreckers (2011) – also featuring Evans – proved much more effective.
