In her directorial debut Luna Carmoon captures extraordinarily how we can be connected to our positive childhood memories and experiences even when they can be seen as strange and even traumatic by some. Essentially "Hoard" tells the story of love - platonic, friendly, physical or parental, and the way it can affect our behaviour and also our personality. But Carmoon decided to show slightly disturbing and sometimes disgusting side of connecting and bonding of two people, which made the whole film more gripping in my opinion. I found this concept intriguing and although there were some themes I would have wished to be more developed, I am really interested to see what comes out next from the mind of Carmoon. I must highlight the debut performance of Saura Lightfoot Leon in the leading role whose stubborn, emotional and fragile yet brave Maria carried the narrative. In the supporting role the new rising star Joseph Quinn proved that he has the talent even for more artistic approach in film-making than just for mainstream production like Stranger Things (his break-out role).
2 Reviews
Tries too hard
euroGary12 October 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Writer/director Luna Carmoon introduced this film at the 2023 London Film Festival by telling the audience she "hoped you find it unsettling". And it is true it contains sequences that had some audience members squirming in their seats. But this reviewer is afraid that rather than unsettling, he merely found it boring.
As a young child, Maria lives with her mother Cynthia, who is a hoarder, meaning their house is stuffed to the rafters with the rubbish Cynthia finds on all-night scavenging trips, as well as a ferret and nests of dead rats. An increasingly tedious first act is set in the exciting, rubbish-strewn world Cynthia creates for her daughter: the pair are undoubtedly close, but there is only so much noisy play-fights and primal screaming the audience can take. It comes as a relief when Cynthia is buried under a collapsing pile of her own rubbish; at last the story can move on.
Maria is taken into care and placed with Samantha Spiro, doing her working-class-heart-of-gold shtick. Several years later she has grown into the willowy form of Saura Lightfoot Leon and appears none the worse for her chaotic early years - until, that is, a former foster child, dustman Michael (Joseph Quinn), returns with an unconvincing tough-guy accent and a succession of grubby vests.
There are undoubtedly some stand-out moments in this: for instance, the initial coupling between Maria and Michael is almost by itself worth the price of admission for the bewildered expression on passive participant Michael's face. But every time the viewer is lulled into thinking the scenes of kitchen sink drama may lead to an increase in interest levels, up comes another overly-staged shot, or round of primal screaming, or characters acting too weird for words.
There is, it turns out, a method to the madness - but by then I had lost interest, feeling every one of the film's 126 minutes. Definitely an acquired taste!
As a young child, Maria lives with her mother Cynthia, who is a hoarder, meaning their house is stuffed to the rafters with the rubbish Cynthia finds on all-night scavenging trips, as well as a ferret and nests of dead rats. An increasingly tedious first act is set in the exciting, rubbish-strewn world Cynthia creates for her daughter: the pair are undoubtedly close, but there is only so much noisy play-fights and primal screaming the audience can take. It comes as a relief when Cynthia is buried under a collapsing pile of her own rubbish; at last the story can move on.
Maria is taken into care and placed with Samantha Spiro, doing her working-class-heart-of-gold shtick. Several years later she has grown into the willowy form of Saura Lightfoot Leon and appears none the worse for her chaotic early years - until, that is, a former foster child, dustman Michael (Joseph Quinn), returns with an unconvincing tough-guy accent and a succession of grubby vests.
There are undoubtedly some stand-out moments in this: for instance, the initial coupling between Maria and Michael is almost by itself worth the price of admission for the bewildered expression on passive participant Michael's face. But every time the viewer is lulled into thinking the scenes of kitchen sink drama may lead to an increase in interest levels, up comes another overly-staged shot, or round of primal screaming, or characters acting too weird for words.
There is, it turns out, a method to the madness - but by then I had lost interest, feeling every one of the film's 126 minutes. Definitely an acquired taste!
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