The Feast
93 Minutes / Noted Rated (but it’s an R)
Written by Roger Williams
Directed by Lee Haven Jones
Synopsis:
Over an evening a wealthy family gathers for a sumptuous dinner with guests in their ostentatious house in the Welsh mountains. Served by a mysteriously disturbing young woman, the assembled party do not realize they are about to eat their last supper.
Another film from the recent SXSW Film Festival…
Let me start by saying: The Feast is not for everybody.
Not even close.
Now, I can tell you for sure that I liked it. I liked it a lot.
I love the slow unfold of the mythology behind the goings-on, which–despite remaining incomplete by the end of the film–are engaging in an old-world, classically dark way, which I love.
Cadi, our avatar at this dinner for the elites, is nearly silent throughout the film, yet conveys a complex mix of emotion, allowing her to be at once adorably appealing and disturbingly appalling.
The family hosting the dinner–for their business partner and their neighbor–is at once predictably distant from one another and unpredictably entangled in either others’ lives beyond mere family ties.
There are quite a few scenes that many (most?) will find disturbing, including one whose importance you don’t quite get until later in the film, all of which helped create an atmosphere conducive to the mythology I found wonderful.
By the end, when it all falls down, you’re likely to be unsure of whether the victims are truly victims, and whether the villain is truly bad.
As it should be.
I hope this finds an outlet soon (because I haven’t seen it pop up anywhere yet), so I can watch it again.
This may even be a “buy the damn disc” movie when it’s all said and done.
Watch for it, then watch it.
The Feast stars Anne Elwy, Nia Roberts, Julian Lewis Jones, Steffan Cennydd, Sion Alun Davies, Lisa Palfrey, and Rhodri Meilir.
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