VAN D: Alice Lowe. UK. 88 min. Sep 12, 7:15 pm, Hot Docs Cinema Sep 14, 9:15 pm, Scotiabank 8 Sep 17, 6:15 pm, Scotiabank 8. Rating: NNNN
Lowe, co-star and co-writer of Ben Wheatley’s delightfully dark 2012 comedy, Sightseers, writes and stars in her directorial debut. She made the film while heavily pregnant, which is both novel and entirely germane to the plot.
In this jet-black comedy Lowe plays Ruth, a woman on a mission to murder seven people at the urging of her unborn daughter.
Lowe has an awful lot of fun with the larger metaphor of Ruth no longer being in full control of her body. And as in Sightseers, much of the humour comes from the sight of gruesome violence playing out in mundane British surroundings. The befuddlement of Ruth’s designated victims is also a great running gag, with The Witch’s Kate Dickie and Game Of Thrones’ Gemma Whelan particular standouts.
