• Davies is timeless- this movie could’ve come out in 1935, 1955 or 1985.
  • Shot in Kodak 65— interiors shot digitally—apparently Davies had been wanting to make it for 18 years—
  • The narrative surrounds one woman’s (Agyness Deyn) struggle- a power feminism story/read—independence, strength, coming of age—a saga really
  • Sumptuous cinematography by Michael McDonough—the vistas—we have the wheat field, tree line, and pond and reflection– and then you pair that with the natural lighting interior—the entire thing looks like an oil painting
  • Davies blends neo-realism with the David Lean-like panorama— but he also has his trademark singing (amateurs, folk songs, no accompaniment) like Distant Voices– this is an auteur!
  • “the land endures”—Deyn’s narration
  • The field landscapes remind me of Days of Heaven from Malick—but the breaks (most is interior) almost make it feel like Von Trier’s Breaking the Waves as well.
  • As gorgeous as anything in the shire by peter jackson’s Lord of the Rings
  • About enduring, rough realism, hardship, abuse, incest, childbirth, suicide— raw- sexuality, nudity and sex
  • Peter Mullan is brilliant
  • Songs “Spanish ladies”
  • Bitter/sweet of life dichotomy—vistas and interiors
  • Gorgeous 360 shot- one taking out (on carriage) unruly relatives and in one take bringing back a helper on that same carriage
  • Night into date matching shot and then tracking shot (slow) blending two of the Deyn characters in one scene superficially
  • Powerful scene at the church—Preaching war- Kaiser is Antichrist—husband of Deyn’s character is sullied by war
  • A great slow pan away from action to fire, window, the exteriors—another slow stunner over a battleground
  • HR/MS border