I wanted to like this. It's interesting. The characters are, well they're very annoying, which makes it hard to like or even enjoy. It's fast paced, tiring and kinda claustrophobic. This last bit partly due to the square frame. Yeah, square! Like Instagram. It's seriously intense. A mother trying to deal with her mentally unstable teenage son, trapped by their spiralling lives. That is until the half way point, soundtracked by Wonderwall, the screen is literally pulled wide open with enthusiastic happiness. Our troubled boy screams "I'm free" and it's quite spectacular. It's short lived though and as the screen pulls back to its square format, it feels even more constricted. It's painful, awkward sometimes to watch, tense, crushing. Thankfully more highs do follow, but the whole film is up and down, with happiness seemingly only a dream. It does have a rather rousing finale and it has to be said that the acting throughout is stellar. I can't quite shake the feeling of disappointment though.
5/10
