Shell (2012)

Scotland is a beautiful country, a staggeringly dramatic landscape that easily lends itself to cinema. Unfortunately, a film requires more than scenery, a point that is lost on the makers of Shell. A young woman lives an isolated life in a stark, barren setting, alone with her taciturn father. The male customers who visit her petrol station desire her. Women are suspicious of her. Shell seems over-attached to her father. What it all means and adds up to is anyone's guess. Films which throw up more questions than answers can be rewarding - such as Under the Skin, which makes better thematic use of a similar landscape. However, there has to be a glimpse of narrative coherence, a hint that more rewards are waiting if we make the effort to see beyond the surface. Sadly, Shell's waters run shallow in the extreme. Chloe Pirrie creates an atmosphere as brooding Shell, but the character does not grow or change. Joseph Mawle as the father evokes no familial bond. Rather than a father battling mental demons, I saw a bewildered actor. And Michael Smiley, so sinister and captivating in Kill List, is badly served by a script that eschews any attempt at character development. This film fails on multiple levels.

I recorded this not knowing what it was about, then set down to watch it 3 months later. As the movie progressed, clearly slower than most action movies, my curiosity and expectation turned into a growing sense of awkwardness as the scenes unfolded. A young woman unaware of - or grappling with her own sexuality becomes the focus of male urges in forbidden, fleeting or equally desperate desires. The location of desolate isolation intensifies the storyline of her yearning to break free from her roadside, family-tied prison-without-walls young life, and the pace becomes irrelevant or perhaps magnetizing. Genuine tension fills the air with each customer visit with growing concern of the outcome. This movie is a triumph in awkwardness. Well done Director.

I just watched the Film Shell by Scott Graham on Film Four. Early on in the film the father has an epileptic fit and the daughter puts a rag of some sort in his mouth. This is of course against known medical advice and has not been advised for about 20 years !In a later scene nearer the end of the film she puts her hand in his mouth, again no reason.My main worry is that people will see the film and then put a cloth in my mouth the next time I have a seizure or someone Else's. This is very dangerous as you can choke on it and it restricts your breathing as well; plus you don't know what is on the cloth / rag. Lying on his side and not calling an ambulance was right, no injuries so just leave him to recover. But don't 'assault' him with oily rags, I'm amazed he didn't choke to death !Well done to Scott for showing a character with epilepsy, but lets not make things worse for people who have seizures? The film was okay, a bit bland and slow, boring really, I was side tracked at the start by the old fashioned idea of stuffing rags into peoples mouths - horrible.

A lonely existence in an isolated spot, looking after an introverted epileptic father.In spite of the minimalistic tone both in terms of story, scenery and characters a good job has been done in terms of narrating the story of a father and a daughter in this seemingly isolated existence. What would have probably been intolerable for most, these two souls do not seem to mind, nor looking for a change in their situation. They have a close bond that surpasses everything and ties them together and to that place.The raggedly beautiful backdrop of the windy Scottish Highlands adds a pleasant variance to the ambiance of this story.A great thing about "Shell" is that the girl in the epicentre despite the remoteness in which she leaves she is popular among clients, some of whom openly express their feelings but it does not change her nor makes her full of herself. She always remains the girl at the gas station.A let down is the prevailing sense of misery that seems to be the norm in most of modern British cinema.Despite its contained nature, this is a careful and well exposed character study.