A Field in England (2013)
Three strikes and you are OUT Mr. Wheatley!
I've been consistently recommended Ben Wheatley's films and each time I keep thinking that the NEXT one will be the one which I finally enjoy. Well that ends RIGHT NOW.
His first film, "Kill List" came highly recommended by the critic Mark Kermode. Kermode doesn't always make the most fantastic choices, but it's generally fairly wise to give some of his obscure recommendations a shot. "Kill List" had a dark atmosphere and a very down-to-earth horrifying feel, but the ending was ludicrous and felt like a complete anti-climax.
Then Wheatley's second film was "Sightseers" which seemed to be an entirely different beast. It was a horror-comedy about some caravan holidaymakers who decide to take up serial killing in this bland setting. Unfortunately I simply did not find the film funny.
So by that point I had decided that Wheatley's films were not for me, but something made me change my mind. In the very mixed and mostly poor anthology film "The ABCs of Death", Ben Wheatley's contribution 'U is for Unearthed' turned out to be one of the better entries. This short but simple film showing the capture and slaughter of a monster from the monster's perspective was actually rather clever.
So, now recognising that Ben Wheatley was capable of doing a satisfying piece of work, I decided to try out his latest film "A Field In England". This time it's a black and white period piece, set during the horrors of the civil war yet mainly exploring the angst of the characters in a mysterious field. The main stars are Reece Shearsmith and Michael Smiley, both of whom I know perhaps most fondly for their work on Edgar Wright projects. (Though Reece Shearsmith has long been most recognised for his work on the dark and twisted comedy show "The League of Gentlemen".)
The most obvious issue to begin with here was the way the actors talk. On the one hand, the most upper class of the characters talks in an olde-timey way, but on the other hand the lower class characters talk much more closely to our modern way of speaking. Certainly they are much easier to comprehend and their swearing is undoubtedly modern swearing.
Another problem is the large amount of "As You Know Joe" dialogue. Being stuck in a field, it seems like the main characters have little to do besides tell us their life stories.
Yet another problem is the decision to inflict a badly sung folk song with dubious relevance upon the audience. Apparently the song "Baloo, My Boy" was a popular song in England during the period, but the chap singing it is given centre-stage for his performance, making his awful singing voice inescapable.
Then there's the pretentious abstract imagery. Look, I'm fine with a film to include random elements, but the randomness needs to flow naturally from the narrative. When our characters are suddenly freeze-framed with our protagonist (Shearsmith's character) pointing in an awkward pose and a strange rope is introduced out of nowhere, it is both a completely unsubtle plot device and yet a completely incomprehensible one at the same time. With this rope our characters drag in arguably the only interesting character in the film, a magical Irishman (yes, really *groan*) played by Michael Smiley.
Eventually all plot is rejected in favour of long-winded kaleidoscope effects. While some of these effects are quite impressive they go on way too long and, what with the meandering and slow-paced narrative of the film, the kaleidoscopic effects also lack in dramatic force.
Overall I found "A Field In England" to be a bit of a boring waste of time. Though perhaps the main conclusion to be drawn here is that there's something about Ben Wheatley's style as a director which simply doesn't appeal to me. As varied as his projects might seem, I find they consistently fail to appeal.
D-