Greek arthouse original Athina Rachel Tsangari turns her hand to phantasmagoric folkloric unease, in an unusual vision of a village in pre-industrial Britain that is set to tear itself apart.
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Stands strong and tall, a work solid as an oak. Full of a sensual love of nature and a distinctive vibe, it’s tangy like a home-brewed ale.
Harvest 2024
A stable is mysteriously burnt down, and a scapegoat sought for vengeance, in Greek director Athina Rachel Tsangari’s first film in nearly a decade. Adapted from a book by Jim Crace, this earthy and atmospheric English-language film plays out in a village in Britain before the Industrial Revolution, when commonly held land was being taken over for private property ownership, and the social status and livelihood of locals was in unstable flux.
There is a hallucinatory, punk edge to this slow-burn, folkloric vision of a way of life breaking down, which was shot on celluloid for a look as atmospheric and textured as a Bruegel painting. Caleb Landry Jones stars as Thirsk, a farmer who came as an outsider to the hamlet and still does not quite belong. He eyes events with skeptical unease, as the most powerless are targeted. As acquisitive zeal trumps the collective good, and the selection of the season’s Gleaning Queen at the annual festival takes a perilous turn amid a climate of suspicion and witchcraft accusations, the settlement descends into feverish violence and the threat of total collapse. — Carmen Gray