FILM REVIEW: Woken (2023)
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Woken - New Release Review
Director: Alan Friel
Starring: Erin Kellyman, Maxine Peake, Ivanno Jeremiah, Corrado Invernizzi, Peter McDonald
Written by: Alan Friel, Rebecca Pollock
Produced by: Deirdre Levins, Brendan McCarthy, John McDonnell
Cinematography by: Richard Kendrick
Original Score by: Ratchev & Carratello
Synopsis:
A woman who wakes up from an accident with no memory of who she is, and the realisation that the human race is close to extinction.
Thoughts:
A slow burn pseudo science fiction film with an impressive core cast, 'Woken' is finally released in Ireland and the UK after a modest festival run back in late 2023 and through 2024.
Erin Kellyman stars as Anna, a bewildered pregnant woman who wakes up in bed she's never slept in, in a house she's never dined in and to people she doesn't recognise. She's had a fall and has no memory of any of this and for obvious reasons she begins to question everything. Maxine Peake plays Helen, the woman who has been taking care of Anna. The house in question is the solitary homestead on a beautifully, secluded island that Anna discovers, has no-go areas. One day, as Anna is wandering along the beach, two strangers with deformed faces arrive on a swan boat asking for help, only to be taken out by Helen and her husband. It appears all is not as it seems.
Director Alan Friel and cinematographer Richard Kendrick both do a fantastic job at slowly creating a sense of atmospheric isolation which instantly helps us to gravitate towards Anna as a protagonist. Her loneliness and confusion are used in tandem with the serene settings of the island to develop an intrigue with her situation. It works really well in the beginning but begins to feel a little stale after the first 20 minutes or so. We all know something else is going on here and it's alluded to quite early on that Helen, her husband and Anna's husband James are definitely hiding some important information.
It's one of those films where the individual who has lost their memory asks a few questions and the other characters do as little as possible to answer them completely. It left me feeling a bit annoyed that Anna wasn't being more suspicious especially after the arrival of the infected couple. Too much time passed before she decided to go out and find answers herself.
It's a gorgeous film to look at and the location (it was filmed in Ireland) brings a bit of a mysterious edge to the whole thing. And the mystery is bolstered even further with the inclusion of a science fiction element that, although deeply significant to the plot, kind of felt out of place. There's a moment when we enter a laboratory of sorts and the real story starts to unfold and there's futuristic computer screens and all. I was not a fan of that, although I did appreciate the fact that the time and place were up in the air a bit. The plot is original enough but does share some similarities with 'Children of Men' although the production and writing isn't quite on that level.
A big negative for me was the inclusion of some CGI blood. I will always be down for squibs but I guess they just cost too much these days. There's too much CGI blood bursts in modern cinema. And a major positive is of course Maxine Peake and Erin Kellyman, whose mother/daughter type relationship really feel authentic. Although the film doesn't quite land it's ending, Erin Kellyman's performance proves why she is still one of the brightest stars in British cinema.
Verdict: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
-Gavin Logan
'Woken' is available on UK Digital from May 25th
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