London Film Festival (LFF) 2021 #3 - The Feast

Last film of the first day (yes, it is going to take much longer than the Festival itself to cover them all at this rate) and we’ve had comedy, anime and now horror.

The Feast
Dir. ​​Lee Haven Jones / Dur. 93 mins
Strand:- Cult

In A Nutshell:- As an MPs family prepares for an evening with guests in their remote Welsh cottage, the newly arrived help Cadi seems to have an agenda of her own…

The Good:- It’s great to see filmmakers championing a part of the UK that is often overlooked and fascinating to see a film shot entirely in the Welsh language; I have to admit that it’s the first time I;ve ever seen a film in Welsh - there’s something unique about watching a film clearly set in the UK but which I needed subtitles to understand. The countryside setting gives it a cinematic look and the opening scenes effectively build the mystery of what’s going on and draw you in. The cast were, for the most part, strong; in particular Annes Elwy as Cadi who has to build a character out of barely any dialogue.

The Bad:- Sadly, there was a lot I didn’t enjoy about this one. The pacing begins to really drag to the extent that you begin to care less about what’s going on. When the moments come that are meant to be shocking, there’s a cheapness to the make-up and effects work on display that sadly undermines them. It’s unclear whether these moments are meant to be horror-comedy (in which case they;re not quite funny enough) or genuine horror (in which case they’re too laughable). The film also hints at a backstory for the enigmatic Cadi to do with a certain region nearby which is then left unexplored; deliberately so, it would seem, but rather than keeping the character mysterious, it feels like they’ve left something out so, for me, just felt unsatisfying. I also felt it was unclear as to Cadi’s motivation for targeting this family specifically.

The Verdict:- A misfire for me - I see what they were trying to do with the film but it just didn't come together in a way that I found satisfying.

Q&A Notes:- The film was shot over 18 days in a rented house called, ironically enough, Life House. The filmmakers aim was to make something that was uniquely Welsh and definitely from a Welsh perspective but also that would have global appeal.