SIGHTSEERS (2012)

Studio:       IFC Films
Director:    Ben Wheatley
Writer:       Alice Lowe, Steve Oram, Amy Jump
Producer:  Nira Park, Claire Jones, Andy Starke
Stars:     Alice Lowe, Steve Oram

Review Score:

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Summary:

While on a caravan holiday, Tina discovers that her new boyfriend Chris has a permanent way of dealing with people that annoy him. 

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Tina Read lives with her elderly mother Carol. Carol is a burden to Tina and she blames her daughter for the death of her dog, Poppy. Tina prepares for a caravan holiday with her new boyfriend Chris, whom Carol dislikes.

Chris and Tina’s first stop is the Crich Tram Museum. One of the other sightseeing passengers throws a wrapper on the floor of the tram and flips off Chris when he mentions it. Later, while backing the caravan out of a parking space, Chris intentionally runs over the litterer, although Tina thinks it is an accident.

Chris and Tina stop at a park where a group of shaman from Portsmouth is holding a nearby drum circle. Chris and Tina meet fellow caravan travelers Janice and Ian. Chris insists on having a look inside their caravan. Tina is drawn to their dog Banjo, who looks just like Poppy. In a flashback, it is shown that Poppy was accidentally impaled on knitting needles left on a chair by Tina. Tina tries feeding Banjo a potato crisp, which Janice angrily knocks away. Chris breaks one of the other couple’s dishes by pretending to accidentally knock it onto the floor, which causes Tina to smile. That night, Tina wears crotchless panties that she knitted herself, but Chris does not notice. In the morning, Chris kills Ian and makes it look like a cliffside accident. When Banjo runs around aimlessly, Tina decides to take the dog.

Tina and Chris next go to Blue John Cavern and then to Fountain’s Abbey. Carol calls her daughter after faking a fall down the stairs, but Tina ignores the phone as she is having sex with Chris. Chris takes pictures while having sex with Tina using the camera he stole from Ian. Tina later looks at the pictures on the camera and realizes that Chris killed Ian. After Chris goes on a bender at a local pub, Tina appears to grow comfortable with the new discovery about her boyfriend.

A hiker admonishes Tina for not picking up Banjo’s droppings. She and Chris create a story that the hiker abused her and the dog. With this justification, Chris clubs the man to death.

At a later stop, Chris makes friends with a biker named Martin who has a prototype single person carapod for economic migrants. Chris and Tina eat at a restaurant where a noisy bachelorette party is taking place at another table. Tina discusses the romance of dying together with Chris. When she returns from the bathroom, Tina finds Chris making out with the bride-to-be on a party dare. Tina later follows the woman outside and pushes her over a railing to her death.

Tina tours the Pencil Museum alone while Chris continues bonding with Martin. Tina calls her mother to tell her how upset she is with Chris. When Tina later attempts getting intimate with her boyfriend, Chris tells her that she is not qualified for murder.

The next morning, Tina drives the caravan and intentionally runs over a jogger. Chris cleans up the mess and expresses his continued frustration with Tina’s chaotic killing pattern. The couple makes another stop on a mountainside. Martin arrives shortly thereafter. While Chris is out of the caravan, Tina comes on to Martin, but he avoids her advances. When Chris returns, Tina tries to tell him that Martin was inappropriate to her. Chris is relatively unfazed. When Martin goes to rest in his carapod, Tina pushes him off the cliff. This leads to a fight between Chris and Tina that turns into intimacy. Together, they torch their caravan. The duo climbs to the top of Ribblehead Viaduct with a plan to kill themselves. However, Tina lets go of Chris’ hand as he jumps off alone.

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Review:

Tina is one pet cat away from miring herself in the depressive rut of a spinster.  Her elderly mother Carol occupies each day by crafting ways to elicit Tina’s sympathy and make herself as deliberately burdensome as possible.  Things have not been the same in the Read household since Carol’s beloved dog Poppy impaled himself on a pair of errantly placed knitting needles.  While technically the fault of Tina the sewing enthusiast, Carol makes sure her daughter is reminded of the accident constantly by moaning pitifully and referring to Tina as, “murderer.”

Unknowingly, Carol is on to something by crowning her daughter with that moniker.  Adding to Mama Read’s omnipresent disdain is the meddlesome appearance of Tina’s new boyfriend Chris.  Even though the pair has only been dating for a scant three months, Chris has a road trip holiday on tap for his new love as the couple plans a personal sightseeing tour via caravan.  Mother may disapprove, but the countryside getaway is just what the doctor ordered as a remedy for Tina’s mundane life of an average homebody.

Bearded Chris is a perfect match for Tina with his ordinary appearance and the outward personality of a common everyman.  Like any common everyman, Chris has his otherwise jovial mood occasionally sullied by life’s minor annoyances.  Unlike that ordinary everyman though, Chris has a more difficult time shaking off nagging hassles and soldiering on.  On just its first stop, the caravan claims an unfortunate victim of Chris’ ire and the body count keeps climbing at each stop thereafter.

Strangely, Tina is not bothered for very long by Chris’ permanent manner of handling temporary inconveniences.  Quite the contrary.  Not only does it make her man more magnetic, but it also taps into her dormant dark side.  Thanks to years of unending repression suffered at the hands of her mother, that dark side has fermented into something just as twisted as Chris’ warped sense of morality.

Pigeonholing “Sightseers” as a straight comedy is not entirely accurate.  Neither is a classification as horror, really.  “Quirky” is another adjective likely to be assigned, but that too falls outside the bullseye.  The film’s personality is too subdued to qualify as quirky since its charm operates outside of a conscious level.  At its heart, and “Sightseers” definitely has one, the film is a romance.  It may be a demented romance, but it is a love story before it is anything else.

“Sightseers” is partially the black comedy equivalent of the Michael Douglas starrer “Falling Down.”  In “Falling Down,” the final straw that broke D-Fens’ back was not a major event or scarring tragedy.  It was a pileup of those unavoidable daily annoyances that plague everyone at one time or another.  Traffic.  Rudeness.  Accidents of timing.  Society’s unwritten rules say to ignore the toll taken by these little slights and move along.  But sometimes, even a sane person reaches a boiling point where ignoring the umbrage feels like a greater crime.

Tina’s boyfriend feels that way.  Chris is what a less cantankerous Larry David would be like if the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” character/star had murderous tendencies.  Chris and Tina occupy a real world where homicide still has consequences.  It is just that teaching manners to others and sorting through their relationship with each other are more immediate concerns.

It comes as no surprise that stars Alice Lowe and Steve Oram are also the scriptwriters.  They visibly embody the unspoken nuances that drip without words behind their portrayals of Tina and Chris.  Tina wears the expression of a wearied middle-ager wondering which is the more tolerable life: putting up with an intolerable mother, or convincing herself that she has hit “good enough” and settling with a serial killer.  Chris mulls over similar prospects.  How likely is he to find another woman willing to put up with an unending string of blood and bodies?

Aiding the humor immensely is a camera that always knows where to position itself for maximum comedic effect.  The gags are left to their own strengths when the lens sets up wide and lets the absurdity fill the entirety of the frame.  Well-timed and sparingly used slow motion takes the laughs further still.  Visually, “Sightseers” knows how to stage itself while avoiding over-the-top slapstick or any ham-handed groaners.  The script and characters have free reign to breathe on their own, and that is what gives “Sightseers” its unique character.

I sat on the fence of uncertainty for most of the film.  It was not until the credits rolled that I realized how much I enjoyed “Sightseers.”  Ben Wheatley’s film is a black comedy without a middle ground.  It is one of those experiences that will either click with the viewer or make him/her as annoyed as Chris.  The key is to understand that this is not a broad appeal laugh riot.  Despite the subject matter, comedic flourishes are subtle and tightly focused.  While fellow caravaners look over their shoulders for a rock-wielding Chris, beware “Sightseers.”  It has a way of creeping up to strike without anyone even noticing.

Review Score:  85

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