The Library Suicides (2016) User Reviews

Interesting Thriller from Wales.

[t-dooley-69-386916 · 6/10 · 4 March 2017]

The basic plot is that a Welsh author of note has died – by her own hand. Her twin daughters both work at the National Library of Wales as archivists. Then strange things start to happen and it is all, seemingly, linked to the dead woman's past.

Now this is a hard film to say anymore about without running into the area of plot reveals. It is a small budget affair with a mere handful of players. However, it has the feel of a quality production with great use of the camera and well above average performances from everybody – there are no passengers in this film.

It is almost entirely in Welsh too with good sub titles. As a thriller it more than holds its own but some may have issues with the dénouement and that I feel will be a matter of taste/belief. I was more or less fine with it and it is nice to see great independent film making still being original in Wales – recommended for fans of indie's.

Enjoyable, unique story with superb acting

[lqk9 · 19 June 2016]

I saw this at the start of an international film festival programme, and booked it after watching the trailer and becoming intrigued about how the story unfolded. I don't want to share too much because part of the pleasure of watching it was not knowing very much about the key plot lines - suffice to say that it's about a handful of people working in the National Library of Wales, and the work/archive of one of Wales' greatest writers after she's died - and the demons and lives affected by it after she's gone. It's a very unique little story, with excellent acting (the story is mostly on the shoulders of one female lead actor, with great support from the surrounding actors). Our showing had the director introduce it beforehand, where he tried to get the audience to pronounce the Welsh title, and said he has a background in TV production. You can tell because the movie's pacing is particularly good - basically it's a mix of being a thriller as the story unfolds, into more of a focus on drama as we get to care about the characters towards the end. There are also a fair few dark comedy moments in it. My partner remarked after the viewing that it reminded him of a few of the darker nordic movies he's watched before, but I'm struggling to come up with names to give examples here. Anyway, an excellent movie, really glad we added it into our film festival plans!

An entertaining library evening.

[fustbariclation · 9/10 · 4 November 2016]

I'm pretty sure it's the first entirely Welsh film I've seen. I rather enjoyed it. Being quite cheerful, in parts, it wasn't quite as Welsh as it could have been.

A library is an excellent setting for a film with a low budget -- yet another good reason for libraries to continue to exist.

Twins lend themselves to interesting films, often for quite surprising reasons.

I guessed, correctly, that the library was in Aberystwyth - clearly being bitten by a donkey somewhere helps fix the place in one's memory.

I hope there'll be more from this director.