Bogancloch ★★☆☆☆ – Edinburgh International Film Festival

3 mins read

Bogancloch is unlike other films playing at this years Edinburgh International Film Festival.

It’s less of a conventional film and more of an art piece about the life of an elderly man in the woods

As for a plot, there isn’t one. Its a largely mundane story of Jake Williams, a real Scottish man who lives a reclusive life in the woods of Bogancloch.

Bogancloch is a sequel to director Ben Rivers 2011 film, Two Years at Sea. This film also follows the life of Jake Williams.

For most of the film, Jake goes about his ordinary life, busying himself with small tasks around his home before more fictional elements are introduced.

The structure of Bogancloch can get frustraiting. Since most of the time nothing much is happening, the film can get tiresome to watch.

However, what saves it from being a drag is its visual style.

The film is presented in black and white, with a large amount of the footage looking rough and almost corrupted.

Some moments are interrupted with old photos in colour. These colourful moments break up the monotony of Jake’s life.

Director Ben River’s has a great sense of style with many of the shots being unique from one another.

Bogancloch also lacks exposition or any large sputs of dialouge.

Almost all of the time Jake is alone, with there only being a couple of moments of him interacting with others throughout the film.

The moments where Jake does interact with others are the films high points, the sing along around the campfire being the most notable moment.

Bogancloch is a very dream like watch, and the moments with other people only emphaise this.

Since Jake is so used to being alone, his interactions with others feel slightly off.

Sadly, Bogancloch doesn’t offer much else outside of its visuals are presentation.

As previously mentioned, most of the run rime is devoted to Jake living his life, however, in most of these scenes, the camera lingers for slightly too long.

This issue is only compounded by the final shot of the film staying on for a few too many minutes.

Bogancloch is a tiresome watch that is barely redeemed by its interesting visual language and dream like atmosphere.

For information on Edinburgh International Film Festival click here.

For more of Brig’s coverage of Edinburgh International Film Festival click here.

Featured Image credit: Ben Rivers

+ posts

Fourth year Film and Journalism student
Deputy editor

Contact - deputyeditor@brignews.com

Tags:

You might be interested in

Fourth year Film and Journalism student
Deputy editor

Contact - deputyeditor@brignews.com

View all

Leave a Reply

Discover more from Brig Newspaper

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading