Troubled Sean Harris returns to his Norfolk roots in this creepy psychological drama. 3/5 stars
Best known to blockbuster fans as anarchist villain Solomon Lane in the last two Mission: Impossible films, Harris is on impressive form in this British indie movie from writer-director Matthew Holness, co-creator of cult TV horror spoof Garth Marenghi's Darkplace.
Holness conjures up a very different mood, however, with this unsettling psychological drama, which sees Harris's deeply troubled loner, Philip, returning to the gloomy Norfolk flatlands of his childhood.
He carries around with him a brown holdall, repeatedly trying and repeatedly failing to dispose of the hauntingly monstrous thing it contains.
Possibly even creepier, however, is Philip's leering Uncle Maurice, played with slimy menace by Alun Armstrong.
Both represent the traumatic past that Philip is struggling to confront and overcome. Uncommitted viewers will be put off by the deliberately slow-moving and repetitive structure, but Holness and his lead actor sustain the film's hallucinatory atmosphere - with the aid of unnerving sound design by the Radiophonic Workshop of Doctor Who fame.
