Genres

Visitors Review

otis_Luxton 2012-05-25 13:03:40

A dire film - bad plot, bad scripting, unimaginative, and not funny.

I'm not entirely sure what the reason for this film being made was, butin short, it shouldn't have been made.There are many reasons I wouldn't recommend this film, the main onesbeing are that firstly, the plot is tedious and predictable - it seemsthat no effort has been made to create an interesting narrative or useinteresting dramatic devices that keep you drawn throughout the film.Secondly, the script is not particularly funny, quirky, or imaginative.Although I acknowledge the fact that the film is set in the westcountry, the actors all have very wooden, stereotypical west countryaccents - reminiscent of 'The Wurzels' (which of course, is not funnyin 2010) Thirdly, in addition to 'having a laugh' over the west countryaccent, the rest of this film to me simply not funny. I like to thinkthat I have a fairly varied and open sense of humour, but I did notlaugh once in this film, let alone a snigger.The reason for this, I can only hypothesise as follows - This film isevidently trying to be a 'Spinal Tap' of Morris Dancing. Based on themocumentary style, this film is clearly trying to create humour fromthe Morris Dancing culture - but instead of cleverly parodying thisculture, it seems to have only represented this culture fairly close tothe truth (not even in an observational style). Evidently the makers ofthis film knew quite a lot about the Morris Dancing culture, and arevery possibly part of this culture themselves. Here, they obviouslydidn't want to poke too much fun at Morris Dancing, at the fear ofdisapproval from that very culture. Here it is obvious that the maintarget audience of this film is Morris Dancers and those involved inthe Folk culture; the makers couldn't risk offending their main targetaudience now could they.So as a result, this film would only be understood by those in theculture associated, and even then, there isn't much to laugh about.Morris Dancers and 'Folkies': If you intend on convincing yourself thatthis film is funny just because it is about Morris Dancers, pleasethink twice. Non-Morris Dancers or 'Folkies': Don't bother yourselfwith this film. There are too many references you will not recognise,and even if you did, they aren't funny.

Rozinda 2012-05-24 15:58:03

Hilarious mocumentary

I couldn't quite make out if some of the characters in this storyactually exist, although it seems some did, or the Morris groupdoes...? It would be nice to be sure.The mocumentary is masterly. So very funny. Packed with irony. Itwasn't given a full showing at our cinema, it wasn't shown at the besttimes and we have 3 screens. A great shame as it deserved a much widershowing. If there's a problem with audiences, it could be that Morrisdancing isn't all that much seen in England, these days. In my Londonyouth, I only ever saw it once, and that was during a universityfestival when they had some folk dancing in a large open space in thecity. I really didn't know what to make of it. It was only when wemoved to the West Country that I realised it was still pursued in someplaces. I guess it has a name with those who haven't seen it of being abit strange with all those handkerchiefs and bells, so the cinema, evenhere in the West Country, thought it wouldn't get an audience.I imagine it wasn't well publicised. A great shame. It's just the sortof hilarious movie most English people are inclined to like so why'sthe movie being so coy? Sterling performances from everyone, with aspecial mention for the deadpan "interviewer", the aggrieved Morrisdancing hero and his mates, the Beach Boys type Los Angeles groupwonderfully sending themselves up, and Derek Jacobi brilliant asalways, this time as the insufferably pompous Morris associationofficer. If you want a good laugh and to see some romantic Englishcountryside and old customs, don't miss this!

IAAL 2012-05-21 22:03:47

Wonderful, loving send-up

I'm honestly not sure whether this movie would be funny to someone whoisn't involved in morris dancing, but to those of us in the morriscommunity, this is just priceless. It's a wonderful, gentle, loving,and intimately knowledgeable parody. Other reviews have compared it to"Spinal Tap" because of the mockumentary style, but I thought it wascloser to "A Mighty Wind." The thing that jumps right out at a morrisdancer is that the dancing is consummately well done, and thechoreography -- even the really over-the-top "morris meets Lord of theDance" bit at the American folk festival -- is always recognizablyCotswold morris, no matter how silly it is. The story actually managesto be touching, even when it's broadly humorous; the little moment atthe "rustication" ceremony (where did they get that word?) where Devsilently mouths "I'm sorry" to Derecq just gets me every time, and I'veseen the movie four times now. The acting and writing are consistentlyspot-on. As an added treat, it's fun to spot the actors from all theJane Austen adaptations: Willoughby, Fanny Dashwood, and Robert Farrarsfrom "Sense and Sensibility" all put in appearances, for example.My only mild complaint, and it's really a small thing, is that it seemslike they could have found an American actress to play Sonia. SomeBritish actors can do American accents and some can't; Naomie Harris,unfortunately, is one of the latter variety. She was perfect in therole other than that, but this is one of those "other than that, Mrs.Lincoln, how did you like the play" situations. Her overly-broad A's,particularly in the TV promo for Villandance bit, came off like a Britpoking fun at the colonials, which wasn't the idea at all.

hdickins 2012-05-21 09:25:32

A work of gentle genius

I'm not sure that everyone would get this film. Maybe not even everyoneBritish. Nor everyone with a sense of humour. BUT... I'm convinced itis a work of genius.All the characters are well conceived and, it must be said, completelyabsurd! In fact it's exactly these bizarre and endearing charactersthat drive the film. Of course these characters are based on some smallnugget of truth, but also on stereo-types - in an inoffensive andself-deprecating way. Even the names of the characters are hilarious.The mockumentary-style works well, but I wonder if some of the jokesare just a little impenetrable for some people. Not that this matters,for all its subtlety, the humour comes thick and fast. It's just thatsometimes, some people might take some point seriously - Don't! ALL ofthe film is truly absurd and a work of complete fiction. The supposedexistence of the authoritarian "Morris Circle" is particularly vividand yet absolute fiction.This is not a film for everyone, but nonetheless, it deserves to have afar wider audience and I'm sure is destined to become a truecult-classic.I offer my hearty congratulations to everyone involved. It was farbetter than I dared to believe it would be. 9/10