A film review: Scarborough (2018)
Scarborough is quite possibly the lowest budget film that I’ve ever seen, and at times I wondered if it had been made by students. But that takes nothing away from what is a quirky, stylish film, with some great twists and turns that you will be mulling over for a while after it’s finished; if only for the sheer stupidity of some of the characters. It does, in fact, make uncomfortable viewing at times.
A seemingly unconnected married man and woman check into a hotel in Scarborough, a seaside resort in the north east of England. They then ‘pretend’ to bump into their partners, with whom they are having an affair. The story follows the two couples’ passions and angst as they discuss, contemplate and argue about whether they are right for each other. It’s not until the end of the film that we discover that all had not been as it seemed.
The film only has four characters—the two couples—with the occasional appearance of a sleezy hotel receptionist who knows exactly what’s going on.
Jessica Barden, Jordan Bolger, Jodhi May and Edward Hogg all play excellent parts. Jessica and Edward especially. Both are better known from television than films; Jessica for The End of the F***ing World; Edward for the very good Taboo, and Harlets.
A film worth watching, and a reminder that we don’t need multi-million dollar CGI blockbusters to lose ourselves in a good film. Hollywood seems to quite often forget nowadays that what viewers like is a good story, with good acting, and something that stays in the memory for longer than it takes to turn the telly off. Although with the Marvel films becoming the largest grossing franchise of all time, four times that of the bond films, what do I know!
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