Rent Disappearance at Clifton Hill (2019)

Style over not much substance - Disappearance at Clifton Hill review by NP

This film is nicely acted, richly atmospheric, memorably scored and often very dull.

The opening scenes are effective, but not really intriguing enough to hang 1 hour and 40 minutes of anyone’s time onto. David Cronenberg makes a rare acting appearance as Walter. The performance isn’t memorable, unlike Tuppence Middleton as main character Abby, who is the most consistently good reason to keep watching. For its slowness, there’s also a chaos about the way in which the thin story is told, possibly to engage our interest.

The incidental score by Alex Sowinski and Leland Whitty has attracted comment. A mixture of minimalist ambience and a jazzy cacophony, it reminded me in parts of Yvon Garault’s music for French director Jean Rollin’s early films. An acquired taste for sure, but I really enjoyed it.

It seems director and co-writer Albert Shin was aiming for a small-town David Lynch-ian atmosphere here, but whilst the style is there, the ability to concoct an engaging or eccentric narrative drags a little over the running time. This is a shame, because with about 20 minutes pruning, the quietly effective moments could have been a lot more powerful. For all that, there is an interesting (possible) twist at the end. My score is 6 out of 10.

OUTBACK THRILLER - TERRBILE - Disappearance at Clifton Hill review by AM

TERRIBLE, LONG DRAWN OUT , COUPLE GET LOST IN OUTBACK, NO PREPARATION AT ALL...VERYSILLY WASTE OF GREAT OUTBACK SCENERY

THEY GO WITH NO SUPPLIES OR WATER......................

Hard going. - Disappearance at Clifton Hill review by LJ

Very slow and got bored half way through. It takes some imagination to work out but end was a bit of a twist.