Starring: Agyness Deyn, Peter Mullan, Kevin Guthrie
Director: Terence Davies
Rating: 3.5/5
Sunset Song
Over the last couple of years, Agyness Deyn has been making the transition from model to actress and she has returned with Sunset Song: which is one of his biggest roles to date and another great leading role.
Sunset Song is a big screen adaptation of the novel by Lewis Grassic Gibbon and sees Terence Davies back in the director's chair for his first feature film since The Deep Blue Sea. As well as being in the director's chair, Davies has also adapted the book into a screenplay.
Sunset Song laments the devastation of war and pays fine tribute to the endurance of the land. Set in a rural Scottish community, Sunset Song is driven by the young heroine Chris (Deyn) and her intense passion for life, the unsettled Ewan (Guthrie) and for the unforgiving land.
The impact of the First World War is felt from afar, bringing the rapidly changing modern world to bear on this community in the harshest possible way. Yet, in a final moment of grace, Chris endures the great hardships. Now a woman of remarkable strength, she is able to draw from the ancient land in looking to the future. Sunset Song is an epic in emotional scale and deeply romantic at its core.
It is hard to believe that Deyn has ever done anything other than act as she delivers a wonderful central performance as Chris in Sunset Song. She is definitely an actress to keep and eye on as she has a very busy 2016 ahead of her.
Deyn's performance is emotionally engrossing from start to finish and it is this central turn that really hooks the audience and pulls them into this story. It is an incredibly strong and yet emotional performance from the actress and your heart breaks for her when she can no longer holdback her tears of anger and frustration.
Mullan is one of this country's finest actors and he delivers another terrific performance as Chris' abusive father who has driven everyone who was close to him. There is a real menace in Mullan's performance and he is just perfectly cast. We also see a wonderfully contrasting performance from Kevin Guthrie as Ewan. In the first part of the film, we see him finally win Chris over before the First World War tears him and them apart.
However, it is not only the cast that are on top form as director Terence Davies must also get a very large pat on the back for well and truly transporting us back to the Scotland in the early 20th century. He really depicts and captures the difficulties of life there at that time - and it is this tough and hard life that really does drive the emotion in this film.
Davies has also penned the screenplay and - while he has of course put his own stamp on the story - he has remained incredibly respectful to the original text. You can also that Davies is also a huge fan of the literary roots of this story and that is reflected in the language that's used and through Deyn's narration.
The backdrop to Sunset Song is also breathtaking, as Davies has managed to capture the beauty and the harshness of this rural landscape - he really as created some truly wonderful images.
Sunset Song is a movie that continues to show Deyn's development as an actress and is her best performance to date. This is a movie about love, loss and the devastation of war and is a powerful and moving indie film. If you are an indie film fan, then Sunset Song is a movie that you need to check out this weekend.
Sunset Song is out now.
Tagged in Agyness Deyn