pat collins | Bina007 Movie Reviews

A ten minute review of Irish director Pat Collins high concept arthouse movie, SILENCE.

A sound recordist called Eoghan goes to Ireland to record the sound of pure nature, without man’s intervention. This is interspersed with random old duffers reading poetry or hinting at Irish folklore. I really wanted to like the flick – you’ve got to admire such an unashamedly challenging and purist project, as well as be fascinated by some of the (simulated?) old footage of Irishmen on the move. But my god, was I bored. The fact that Collins doesn’t bother to create characters or plot is, of course, his point, but without any conventional narrative to cling to, I soon became bored of bored looking Eoghan staring into space. Of course, there are ways to do a successful nostalgic homage to the land of our fathers. I am reminded of Guy Maddin’s MY WINNIPEG. But this really just isn’t one of them unless you are the most masochistic of arthouse cinephiles.

SILENCE has a running time of 87 minutes and has been rated PG in the UK. It was released in Ireland in November 2012 and is currently on release in the UK, as well as being available to download on demand.

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