Critical popcorn

Over the years, at Critical Popcorn, we’ve seen a vast selection feature length debut films which challenge and inspire us as an audience unidentified, and Fridtjof Ryder’s first outing at this level – in which he writes, produces and direct – is definitely in the realm of unique experiences with a curious voice that places him as a very promising filmmaker in the ever-growing UK folk-focused-psychological scene.

Inland sets us up on the edges of Gloucester, where Rory Alexander’s ‘Man,’ a character so dislodged from his current actuality he doesn’t even have a name, returns home to his dad’s (Mark Rylance’s Dunleavy) after he’s been released from a psychiatric hospital for explanations unknown. Much of the story is somewhat of an expressionistic experience, with the mood of the film often playing out the scene and that atmosphere leading the anxiety, with a story involving family and troubled traumas to unravel.

Clearly inspired by David Lynch, plus touches of Nicolas Roeg, it’s shot with a blurry unease by Director of Photography Ravi Doubleday, where shadows of the 1970s psychological linger in the vibe, and stories of misbalance and a deep audible hum loiter beneath the surface. While I think there’s a lack of consistency overall, with the depth of the story they’re endeavouring to tell, there’s little doubt of the intensity of the performances which keeps you onboard.

Rory Alexander leads the way as the Man, he’s got more than a hint of David Dastmalchian but retains his own touch. His character is distant and stoic but unwieldly, you’re never quite sure on what level his psychosis is, but it’s evident that he’s endeavouring to locate a reality base in a world that either he doesn’t quite connect with, or one that’s disconnected from him, and there’s no doubt of his commitment to the concerted role.

Mark Rylance’s Dunleavy offers that gravitas that great actors can. Often just a look, or a subtle reaction pulls you in and helps bring unfiltered emotion to a scene that could easily be lost in the peculiar. For his character, the raw memories sit deep, and he’s chosen to overlook trauma in order to keep life slightly upbeat and easy. Dunleavy is the key to the deeper life hidden here, and it’s a character-filling performance that’s never undersold, nor over-done. Every moment between him and Man is through Rylance, as the fulcrum of the story.

Inland feels male-centric though, despite the overall story being of a lack of ‘mother’ in their lives, and the reasons behind that, and the shadows of women in their minds. Is this why they’re all so seemingly disconnected and unhinged? It could be. There’s another Blue Velvet/Twin Peaks Lynch-influenced Black Lodge/Red Room repeated sequence, where the dirty minds of men seek out some form of sexual awakenings, barely seen but certainly suggested, which takes us away from the rest of the film but adds more insight into the disturbed world we’re placed within.

But, largely, Inland plays on the mythological and folk terrors which are very favourable in UK indie right now. It contains folk songs floating in the ether, with that depiction of an unerringly eerie and sound-laden-like suffocation of a lead character and the fight he’s going through within his own casing, almost indicating that trauma is literally skin deep.

With original music from Bartholomew Mason, fine editing from Joe Walton and Lincoln Witter alongside vital sound design from Dominika Latusek, Inland shows that Fridtjof Ryder and Rory Alexander are ones to watch in the mysterious world of surreal UK folk mythology, in this equally Earthy and industrial exploration of the psychological.

INLAND is released in UK cinemas on 16 June

Find a screening near you www.inlandfilm.co.uk