After graduating from the experimental theatre and comedy circuits to appear in bit parts in film and television, Steve Oram (The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret) and Alice Lowe (This Is Jinsy) did what many actors dream of: they wrote their own movie. Seven years after the duo originally conjured up their concept and characters after chatting about shared backgrounds and family holidays, the blackly comic Sightseers is the end result.
The involvement of Down Terrace and Kill List director Ben Wheatley also provides an inkling of the dark direction Lowe and Oram’s debut script takes, as does the pair’s stated inspiration of Withnail and I. Mining the horror leanings of the former and the bleak humour of the latter, they’ve crafted a sinister story comprised of outwardly unassuming and innocent elements, as fledging lovers Tina (Lowe) and Chris (Oram) embark upon a caravanning holiday.
Escaping the clutches of Tina’s needy, nagging mother (Eileen Davies, Another Year) for a week in the English countryside, the couple envision their time away as part adventure – courtesy of visits to tourist haunts including the ever-exciting tram and pencil museums – and part erotic odyssey. Their romantic idyll is soon shattered when Chris’ violent side surfaces, with inhospitable fellow travellers the victims of his seething rage. Horrified at first, Tina soon begins to accept and adapt to his fiendish behaviour.
Road trips and rampages have long been paired in films such as Gun Crazy (1950), Badlands (1973), Natural Born Killers (1994) and more, but rarely have the two been handled with such hilarity. Though Wheatley’s early approach recalls Britain’s great social realist tradition, the wickedness of the material soon seeps through, heightened by the director’s usual confidence. Yet, the film’s basis in truth resounds as much as its devilish, deftly-staged comedy. It is not difficult to understand the decisions of the odd couple, however twisted, or Tina’s challenging choice between her boring former life and the thrill of something new – albeit quite horrid.
Indeed, it is in the crafting of character that Sightseers soars, courtesy of its stars’ smart screenplay. As well as writing award-worthy roles for themselves, Oram and Lowe tap into the unique juxtaposition of the unconventional and the ordinary. Without the seemingly average standing of the protagonists – their awkward bickering as lust crumbles, for example – the despicable deeds depicted would have lacked intrigue. Similarly, without such an eccentric method of tackling their anti-social problems, the anti-heroes, like the film, would have been simply standard.
Rating: 3 ½ stars out of 5
Sightseers
Director: Ben Wheatley
UK, 2012, 88 min
In cinemas 26 December
Distributor: Rialto
Rated MA
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