Shadows on the Wall | Arthouse Films

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On this page: BREAKWATER | THE LONELY MUSKETEER | ROW

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See also: SHADOWS FILM FESTIVAL | Last update 29.Jun.25

Breakwater
Review by Rich Cline | 3/5

dir-scr Max Morgan
prd Jemima Chen
with Daniel McNamee, Shaun Paul McGrath, William Gao, Agnes Halladay, Noah Radcliffe-Adams, Jamie Pulley, Tess Gustard, Jacky Rowland, Greg Spray, Anne Leith, Jemima Chen, Darcey Willing
release UK Jun.25 rff
25/UK 1h31

Is it streaming?

From the start, this British drama evokes a tone that hints at intrigue with tiny glances and brief cutaways. Writer-director Max Morgan uses eye-catching widescreen cinematography to create a strong sense of the settings and characters. Although these people speak in hesitant fragments, as if they're always hiding something. So while everything seems to move at a maddeningly underpowered pace, the subtle performances bring out deeper feelings.

While visiting his girlfriend Lucy (Halladay) and her family at the seaside, violinist Otto (McNamee) meets their neighbour John (McGrath) in a bar. Later, John rescues him from rough surf, discovering a mutual interest in the church. As they become friends, Lucy's family warns Otto off due to swirling gossip about John's late wife. Back in Oxford, he continues studies and hanging with his flatmate Matt (Gao). When Lucy suddenly breaks up with him, Otto's pain deepens his connection with John. As they become closer, he opts to spend the Christmas break with John.

Otto is pursuing a further musical scholarship while considering the priesthood as a backup plan. So the film's imagery reflects his love of art, religion and nature, while conversations dig into his inner feelings, including grief from an event that he can share with John. Then when John relates his past romance with a man, Otto begins to see things differently. And this creates tension as he tries to figure out where he fits between Lucy and John.

Because the dialog is so soft-spoken, it feels intimate and deep. This allows the actors to add intriguing textures to the characters. McNamee and McGrath find terrific rhythms in whispered conversations, sharing stories along with deep thoughts and feelings. When their friendship begins to shift into something that's perhaps romantic, both resist it. The actors play this with rumbling internalised intensity. And as Lucy, Halladay has some very strong moments of her own.

The film's hushed and increasingly dark tone allows humour and emotion to creep in when we least expect it. So even if the story moves at an achingly slow pace through extended, muted conversations, there are jagged moments that take us aback. At the centre are two men in need of forgiveness for something they didn't do. All of this is very enigmatic, leaving the audience to fill in the gaps and discover their own connections to the larger ideas. But it's ambitious enough to mark Morgan as a filmmaker to watch.

themes, language, violence 27.Jun.25

The Lonely Musketeer
Review by Rich Cline | 3.5/5

dir-scr Nicolai Schumann
prd Addy Raja, Marc Schneider, Nicolai Schumann
with Edward Hogg, Richard Glover, Jennifer Preston, Angela Peters, Holly Gordon Clark, Kate Barry, Chris Kyriacou, Will Owen, Max Johnson, Alex Cox, Thomas O'Connell, Edward Bingo Simpson
release UK Jun.25 rff
24/UK 1h37

Is it streaming?

Featuring a single person in a small room, this experimental drama is shot in black and white and edited with restless energy that keeps the pace moving. Writer-director Nicolai Schumann relies heavily on the exceptional skills of audacious actor Edward Hogg to bring the surreal set-up to vivid life, creating a riveting one-man show. As the narrative unpicks the mystery, the film becomes increasingly murky and darkly disturbing.

Waking up in a room with no doors and only a high crack-like window, successful London banker Rupert (Hogg) uses his archaic mobile phone to call the office. And he's unnerved to discover that he's lost two days. The last thing he remembers is drinking with the three musketeers, namely his school friends Mickey (voiced by Glover) and Philip (Kyriacou). Rupert also calls a police inspector (Preston) he knows, while his estranged wife (Peters) is impatiently phoning him about divorce negotiations. Then he gets a call from a stranger who asks him about his past.

Bruce Jackson's monochrome cinematography is beautiful. Flickers of colour appear both outside the window and in flashbacks about Caroline (Clark), a school friend who died when Rupert was 14, the same year he lost his parents. Between calls, Rupert tries to escape, injuring himself in the process. And he learns that his plight has hit the press, to the point where a talk show host (Owen) calls him live on air. As the days pass, Rupert begins to suffer from dehydration, and the calls grow exponentially intense.

Hogg throws his entire physicality into this astonishing depiction of a powerful, confident man who is disintegrating before our eyes. Becoming increasingly disheveled as he charges around in this small space making and answering calls, Rupert is further unraveled by this unknown voice dredging up his most painful memories. His tightly wound rage is terrifying when it emerges from behind his calm exterior. And the voice actors around him add some terrific textures along the way.

As Rupert scrambles to make sense of why this is happening to him, he actually states one of the film's central ideas about the tendency we have to perceive meaning between unconnected things. His mind is spinning as he tries to solve the conundrum of this situation, as if finding the answer will get him out of here. Then when answers begin to emerge in a series of revelations, the film's enigmatic premise becomes almost unbearably grim.

themes, language, violence 28.Jun.25

Row
Review by Rich Cline | 3/5

dir Matthew Losasso
prd Nick Skaugen
scr Nick Skaugen, Matthew Losasso
with Bella Dayne, Sophie Skelton, Akshay Khanna, Nick Skaugen, Mark Strepan, Tam Dean Burn, Melody Grove, Joanna Roth, Vivien Creeger, James Weber Brown, Jenny Quinn, Sean MacGregor
release UK Jun.25 rff
25/UK 1h58

Is it streaming?

With visceral cinematography by Zoran Veljkovic, this hushed thriller skilfully pulls the audience into its chilly, windswept North Atlantic locations. Even with the fragmented, out-of-sequence editing, director Matthew Losasso manages to build a creeping sense of dread by revealing that this story will turn very grisly along the way. There are logic and point-of-view problems in the indulgently overlong running time, but the unfolding central mystery remains compelling.

After washing up alone in the Orkneys, Megan (Dayne) tries to remember what happened after she set off on an attempt to break a record for rowing across the Atlantic from Newfoundland. She was rowing with skipper Daniel (Khanna), the perky Lexi (Skelton) and gloomy Mike (Skaugen). But Megan's confusing memories are awash in blood and violence. Tending to Megan, Detective MacKelly (Burn) is trying to help her recall what happened. She remembers tiny disagreements that strained their friendship, technical problems and epic waves that nearly scuppered them. But MacKelly finds holes in her story.

Various incidents feed into creeping paranoia among the boat's crew. Mike was a last-minute replacement for Lexi's boyfriend Adam (Strepan), creating doubts about his trustworthiness, especially when a fever makes him lose the plot. Then floating debris takes out the automatic rudder. Oddly, Megan seems to remember things from other people's perspectives as she revisits various events, including confrontations and a terrifying capsizing. But since most of this comes to her in dreams, there's a question about how accurate her memory actually is.

Performances are fairly intense, which makes it tricky to get a proper grip on the characters and their connections. But the actors are superb at playing smaller details. At the centre, Dayne is somewhat inscrutable as Megan, not giving much away to the people around her (or to the audience). Skelton has an enjoyably sparky presence as Lexi, the only light touch in the entire movie. Skaugen's Mike seems honest but raises questions. And Khanna's almost absurdly tenacious Daniel is the most intriguing character, holding his own secrets and suspicions.

Churning seas and foreboding skies add to the oppressive tone, which builds especially in Megan's nightmares and in intimate conversations as the situation on the boat deteriorates calamitously. It's certainly not surprising that an endeavour like this would test the mettle of even the most strong-willed person. So leadership emerges in desperate, sometimes hideous ways. And in the end this slick film is less about survival than the uglier aspects of humanity.

themes, language, violence 23.Jun.25

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See also: SHADOWS FILM FESTIVAL