04/09/2024 - VENICE 2024: Athina Rachel Tsangari’s latest effort is a bizarre tale set in a remote village under the rule of a hateful master

Caleb Landry Jones in Harvest

In Athina Rachel Tsangari’s new feature, her first English-language work, time and space aren’t well defined. Harvest [+see also:
trailer
interview: Athina Rachel Tsangari
film profile] probably takes place sometime between the late Middle Ages and the 17th century, in Scotland or maybe elsewhere in Northern Europe. What is certain is that the story unfolds over seven hallucinatory days in a small village. Here, the vicissitudes of two childhood friends – townsman-turned-farmer Walter Thirsk (played by the talented Caleb Landry Jones) and his befuddled lord of the manor Charles Kent (an ambiguous Harry Melling) – take centre stage. Secluded in their tranquil, rural community, their lives and those of the other villagers will be irremediably upended by a fire that breaks out at the stable of the farmstead and by the arrival of two mysterious characters – a foreign chart maker called Earle (Arinzé Kene) and Kent’s hateful cousin, Master Jordan (Frank Dillane).

The picture, showcased in the main competition of this year’s Venice Film Festival, is imbued with a rather unique bucolic, violent and, at times, surreal atmosphere, where anything is possible, and little is reasonable or understandable. This is rendered in particular by the choice to shoot Harvest on celluloid and frame it with a bright, warm colour palette, courtesy of DoP Sean Price Williams.

The whole cast does a fair job, although some of the actors’ potential is not fully exploited – in particular that of Kene, who is tasked to play a character who would have benefited from more nuanced writing and the creation of a more complex personality.

All in all, Harvest is a film that is more fascinating than it is intelligible, in which the second half is significantly more engaging than the first. The initial set-up and the first part proceed at a rather slow pacing, but the arrival of Charles Kent’s ruthless cousin and his goons makes it more dynamic, finally piquing some curiosity around the ultimate destiny of this small community. The closure of the narrative arc makes things clearer – at least in part – and retraces the film’s main themes of belonging and power play.

Interestingly, the festival’s official catalogue argues that the movie is a “tragicomic take” on a western. However, the tragic component is significantly more prominent, and there’s very little – if any – comic relief. That being said, the trauma inherent in interacting with modernity is fairly well depicted and clearly embodied by the appearance and deeds of Master Jordan. The treatment of this “nature versus culture” conflict is perhaps not so memorable, and it lacks punch in comparison with more powerful works on the same themes – such as Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood or last year’s Golden Lion contender The Promised Land [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], to name but two – but its satirical intent is unmistakeably there, and not overly subtle either.

Harvest was produced by Sixteen Films (UK), Louverture Films (USA), The Match Factory Productions (Germany), Haos Film (Greece), Why Not Productions and Meraki Films (Cyprus). The Match Factory is in charge of its world sales.

Photogallery 03/09/2024: Venice 2024 - Harvest

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Athina Rachel Tsangari, Caleb Landry Jones, Harry Melling, Rosy McEwen, Arinze Kene
© 2024 Fabrizio de Gennaro for Cineuropa - fadege.it, @fadege.it