Sightseers Review

Over the weekend I had the chance to go to the Cornwall Film Festival, due to other commitments over the the three days, I was only able to watch one film. Thankfully though, it was a film I had been looking forward to seeing. That film was Sightseers.

From Ben Wheatly, director of Kill List comes his second film about a couple of misfits on a rather bizarre camping trip. The outline goes like this; 'Chris wants to show girlfriend Tina his world, but events soon conspire against the couple and their dream caravan holiday takes a very wrong turn.'

The film goes a certain way that makes this seem like the British version of God Bless America. Again this plot type can be very controversial and is not for everyones taste. Three people actually walked out of the cinema during my screening, which to my guess is because of the amount gore and violence involved in the film. The violence is matching to that of what we saw in Kill List. The film gives a whole new meaning on the perspective of sex and violence.

The two leads, Steve Oram and Alice Lowe actually wrote the script for the film. They are also incredibly funny actors and strangely brilliant at playing two oddballs in love. The two of them really have created some cracking one liners for the film that are guaranteed to make you laugh out loud. They are a great pair and the film would not work without them. I really hope that they are picked up as screen writers and comedy actors in the near future! The supporting cast in this is great as well with some great stereotypical characters. If you want to see more of Alice Lowe she actually plays a lot of supporting characters in the new Harry and Paul series which is on BBC 2 at the moment. 

The film is very vibrant and the cinematography reflects this with some great lighting and colour grading. For a film with little budget, it sure did look good. One of the best thing about this film was it's incredible soundtrack. Mainly filled with classic 80's tunes, it really did help create emotion and some great comedy sequences.

The social commentary in this film is not as apparent as it is in God Bless America but I do think that this film was funnier. The lack of this commentary did let the film down in places and made some of the plot points seem a bit stupid in places. But overall it was a great and very funny film. Personally I preferred this to Kill List.

I had a great time at the festival even though I was only there for it's opening evening but I hope to spend the whole weekend there next year. Thankfully the film I saw was of great quality and an example of great British comedy films. That is why I am rating Sightseers a 4/5.

If you live in America then you may not have heard a great deal about this film, but I assure you that you should check it out for sure! 

If you have seen it, let me know by leaving a comment below. Thanks for reading!