World to Come (The)

Period drama on a tight budget is always going to be an uphill struggle. But, when the story is overly familiar and overtly predictable, that struggle becomes even more arduous.

Obviously, comparisons are going to be made with Ammonite and Portrait of a Lady on Fire - but, that's not where the familiarity ends, Brokeback Mountain seems to have had a rather generous influence on Jim Shephard's short story. His [and Ron Hansen's] script has been overly stretched by the director...there's too much of nothing, scenes of unnecessary domesticity simply slow the film down to a snail's pace.

What this film desperately needed was a bit more grit, spit and grime...they are poor farmers in the back of beyond...with perfect coifs and perfectly polite manners! The many anachronisms are distracting, none more so than the soundtrack...call it Jazz, call it whatever you want, it's cacophonous and out of kilter with the film's mood.

Some short stories should remain short stories, preserving the subjective power of the mind's eye. Mona Fastvold's interpretation seems to contemporise rather than authenticate.

Trailer...