Nia Edwards-Behi reviews the first film from Panic Button director Chris Crow, soon to premiere at Abertoir 2011.
A hapless group, stranded in unfamiliar territory, hunted down by a relentless monster – human or otherwise – is a staple of our beloved genre. We’ve more or less seen it all before, as is the way with genre at the best of times, but thankfully every now and again along comes a breath of fresh air. Chris Crow’s debut film takes the run-around-the-woods film back to its roots, and as a result offers up a fine piece of genre filmmaking. Sean (Joseph Millson) travels to Wales, with friends Adam (Michael Jibson) and Danny (Gary Mavers), in order to meet with a man who promises him an easy way out of a potential bankruptcy. Arriving at the rural location they find themselves instantly at odds with local nutter Bill (Joshua Richards), an altercation that will lead to a night of desperate survival.
It’d be easy to label Devil’s Bridge as ‘the Welsh Deliverance’, and such a comparison wouldn’t be too far off the mark. Harkening back to a 1970s, down-and-dirty aesthetic, the film is a visual treat, making the very most of its wonderful, rural location. No helpful sprite is going to emerge from these trees, as dark and twisted they loom over our protagonists. They’re a likeable enough bunch, albeit thoroughly misguided. A highlight of the film for me is the expected pub scene, where, like in countless films before, the protagonists find themselves in the local, and are met with an icy reception. Gladly, however, the scene is not just a blow-by-blow rehash of every other pub scene in such films, but rather plays on the power dynamics normally on display in an unexpected way.
Some nice in-jokes pay homage to the film’s cinematic forebears – duelling banjos and reference to Trencher’s house – but just like Crow’s second feature Panic Button, Devil’s Bridge is a very modern film, its central dodgy dealings the result of economic recession and financial desperation. The usual dichotomies riddle the film – town and country, past and present – while class has become a very murky theme of the film. The town is no longer rich, the present no longer stable, yet both continue to lord it over a disadvantaged past via the youthful outsiders at the film’s core. This thematic play with convention is massively refreshing, and lends Devil’s Bridge a great deal of credibility as the product of someone who cares about the story he’s telling, as well as the way he’s telling it.
Crow’s direction is stylish without being ostentatious; though I’m not wholly convinced by the framing device used in the film, it does provide the film with the punchy ending it might otherwise have lacked. As a first feature, written, directed and edited by Crow, Devil’s Bridge is terrifically paced, compelling throughout its short but satisfying running time. While Crow’s second feature depends a great deal more on a suspension of disbelief, Devil’s Bridge is wonderfully believable. The cast is uniformly strong, with Michael Jibson once again excellent as the oddly-likeable Adam, despite his character being, well, a bit of a pain in the bum. Most memorable, though, is undoubtedly Joshua Richards. Hidden away and detached as the icy voice of the Alligator in Panic Button, here Richards is almost the reverse, the embodiment of full-bloodied, hands-on brutality. His performance is truly terrifying as the scorned and primal man, territorial to the end.
The film’s use of Welsh history is a little heavy-handed, but that may be due in part to over-familiarity on my part. That over-familiarity also means that at times I did find myself slightly rooting for the antagonist, the defiant ranting of characters like Adam, however futile, offensive enough to have me wanting to see him receive his comeuppance. Is that how inbred Nevadans feel when they watch The Hills Have Eyes? I don’t know, but it provides a wonderfully discomforting edge to the film. Regardless, this is a dark, thoughtful film, which offers characters to care about and a murky depiction of right and wrong. Simple and exhilarating, Devil’s Bridge confirms Chris Crow as a name to watch.
Devil’s Bridge will receive its world premiere at Abertoir 2011 – keep an eye on www.abertoir.co.uk for full screening details as they’re announced!