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Critics Consensus: Sad, funny, and wise in equal measure, Archipelago finds writer-director Joanna Hogg in remarkably strong, confident form.
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Critic Consensus: Sad, funny, and wise in equal measure, Archipelago finds writer-director Joanna Hogg in remarkably strong, confident form.
All Critics (22) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (21) | Rotten (1)
In scene after scene, meaning sneaks in and sometimes roars.
This is a beautifully distilled and literally still work that lingers in the mind long after its conclusion.
Gloomy and unrewarding.
'Archipelago' confirms Hogg as a daring and mischievous artist, and a major British talent whose next move will be intriguing.
Archipelago is a sharply observed and excruciatingly honest exploration of family relationships and the mess that we call life. Hogg has proven herself here to be one of Britain's most important film-makers.
As much as a downbeat comedy of bourgeois mores, Archipelago is a sort of claustrophobic horror story, set in a place of no easy escape.
Exposes the fault lines of a middle-class family on holiday.
Archipelago is a subtle film of sensed absences.
A car-crash compelling, painfully comic distillation of modern British middle class mores.
Hogg, though a fine film-maker, doesn't always prevent us feeling that these people are not worth worrying about.
Is art the only way for the privileged to deal with their boredom and discontent? Hogg seems to be suggesting so.
Hogg is inviting us to dismiss these people as fundamentally different to ourselves. But sat in a dark auditorium, we are merely laughing at each other.
Beautifully filmed and naturally acted, the simmering tensions which give way to arguments often heard but not seen feel real and incisive. But it is hard to care too much about these characters' thoughts, feelings and motivations when they are clearly so STAGGERINGLY WEALTHY that they can afford a getaway to the very expensive Isles of Scilly *AND* employ a full time cook/maid/cleaner and pursue activities such as painting, picnics, dining at expensive restaurants and "gap years" in Africa. But for all that there's genuine visual style, superb performances and the conjuring of mood that at times often feels mysterious.
Super Reviewer
This is definitely something more reserved for the 'higher-thinkers' or 'artists' amongst us. I appreciate what the director intended to do and what she has done, however for me personally, it didn't make a great film. I didn't really like any of the characters too much (except Edward and Rose) and when, towards the end of the film, I see a close up of one of the main characters and don't recognize her, there's a problem. I presume the constant static wide and long shots that capture the whole scene rather than cutting between different shots is supposed to represent some sort of fly on the wall Italian neorealism but I just didn't like it. At times it as great and really fueled the tension and awkwardness of what was happening, but at other times I almost screamed for closer shots. Not something I'd watch or even mention again.
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