Song Of Songs
2006
Devoutly religious Ruth (Natalie Press) returns from Israel to care for her dying mother, but when she tries to bring her estranged brother David (Joel Chalfen) back into the fold, in accordance with her mother's wishes, the result is a startling journey into the darkest realms of sexual obsession: a forbidden game under the .. Read more
| Starring | Natalie Press, Julia Swift, Elliot Levey, Leon Lissek |
|---|---|
| Director | Josh Appignanesi |
| Genres | Drama |
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Song Of Songs
Devoutly religious Ruth (Natalie Press) returns from Israel to care for her dying mother, but when she tries to bring her estranged brother David (Joel Chalfen) back into the fold, in accordance with her mother's wishes, the result is a startling journey into the darkest realms of sexual obsession: a forbidden game under the guise of religious law...
| Starring | Natalie Press, Julia Swift, Elliot Levey, Leon Lissek, Amber Agar, Joel Chalfen, Felicite Du Jeu |
|---|---|
| Director | Josh Appignanesi |
| Studio | SODA PICTURES |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 20 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Drama |
| Language | DVD: English, Hebrew |
| Released | DVD: 26 Jun 2006 Production year: 2006 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (3)
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Londons Orthodox Jewish community has rarely been represented on screen, and this début feature captures the... read more on Time Out
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A distinctive and bold new voice in British cinema.
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Most helpful member's review
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7 out of 7 people found this review helpful
not for everyone...
...as the other reviews show. But if you like austere, intellectually demanding cinema, this was critically acclaimed as an interesting film and I would tend to agree. Striking, repressed-boiling-over performance from Natalie Press in her first big role since My Summer Of Love. A strange and elusive ghost of a film, frustrating but always compelling, it's nice to see new British cinema that's trying to do something fresh.
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Most recent members' review
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1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
Song of Songs
Ruth (Press) has just returned from studying in Israel to be with her sick Mother as she dies. Her Brother David (Chalfen) is estranged from the family but Ruth tries to bring him back into the fold, at least to get him to see their mother a last time and a strange relationship develops between the two.
Natalie Press made an auspicious debut in Pawel Pawlikowski's excellent My Summer of Love, showing off a note perfect northern accent and a performance that reminded me of Kate Winslet's wonderful work in Heavenly Creatures. Press is just as good in Song of Songs and it's hugely fortunate for the film that she's as impressive a talent as she is because it has little else going for it.
Appignanesi's shooting is at best unimaginative and at (frequent) worst ugly. For much of the first half of the film he's shooting from behind people and the frame is taken up by either the back of their head or their back. It's as tiresome as George Lucas' constant use of vertical wipes for scene transitions. Furthermore the film is underlit and so grainy it appears at times to have been shot through a teabag. I understand that this is a low budget film and shot probably on 16mm but really it looks awful.
The script is also poor with much of it seemingly copied directly out of 'meaningful torah passages for dummies'. There are flashes of interest in the script; Ruth and David's relationship, well played by Press and Chalfen, is strange and creepy but never really pays off. The most frustrating moment though is a revelation at the end of the film around which a whole, far more satisfying, story could have been spun.
Outright bad though much of Song of Songs is it is still, just about, worth catching if you liked My Summer of Love as it does confirm that Natalie Press is an impressive talent to watch, one that needs to pick a better script next time though. -
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