A Field in England 2013

The latest from Ben Wheatley, the award-winning director of previous NZIFF hits Kill List and Sightseers, is a psychedelic folk-horror set during the English Civil War, likely to delight and perplex in equal measure. Low on plot but high on style and dialogue, it follows a band of deserters led by Reece Shearsmith (League of Gentlemen) and Julian Barratt (The Mighty Boosh). Fleeing from the battlefield, they eventually fall under the spell of a sinister alchemist, played by Michael Smiley (Kill List), who entices them into a search for gold. After wolfing down too many magic mushrooms, the group quickly descends into a chorus of arguments and psychedelic anxiety, all intensified by monochromatic Kubrickian compositions and electronic soundscapes embellished with 17th-century folk songs. Wheatley’s signature traits of violence, black humour and deep dread pervade this earthy examination of madness in an English field. — Ant Timpson