Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Tuesday 21 May 2019
Smashing debut for Swinton's daughter in 'Souvenir'

By JOCELYN NOVECK play the mother. Suddenly
Associated Press the two longtime friends
It was only weeks before realized they'd been ig-
production was starting noring the obvious choice:
on "The Souvenir," the sto- Swinton's then 21-year-old
ry goes, and British direc- daughter, Honor Swinton
tor Joanna Hogg and her Byrne, who'd appeared in
friend, actress Tilda Swin- one film as a child and had
ton, still didn't have a lead no plans to be an actress.
actress. The result is a fairly smash-
The role of Julie, an affluent, ing debut, a performance
twentysomething film stu- so genuine, detailed and
dent in 1980s London, was lived-in that Swinton Byrne
loosely based on Hogg her- may have the film world
self. Swinton was slated to begging her to reconsider

This image released by A24 shows Honor Swinton Byrne in a scene from "The Souvenir."
Associated Press

her plans to study psychol- her polar opposite: all self- she actually apologizes for
ogy and neuroscience at satisfaction and intellectual being angry.
university. swagger, he takes swigs of Meanwhile, Julie's borrow-
One of Hogg's key assets his cigarette and makes ing money from her well-
here is having a real-life pronouncements on life, meaning mother, so she
mother and daughter duo; art, and Julie. The young can give Anthony money.
rarely has a film portrayed man works for the Foreign Anthony falls deeper into
so authentically the give- Office — or so he says — the scourge of his addic-
and-take, the push-and- and, as portrayed by rogu- tion, and Julie can't find a
pull that occurs specifically ishly handsome Tom Burke, way to shake off his hold.
between a middle-aged is both comforting and It's excruciating to watch.
parent and their young- frightening at once. Yet another reason for the
adult offspring. "I think It begins platonically, with genuine feel of Hogg's
you should go to bed." ''I discussions about art. When work stems from her acute
thought you might need Anthony comes to stay in attention to physical detail.
this lamp I bought you." Julie's London flat, the two She's based Julie's apart-
''Mum, I need some mon- share her bed — chastely ment on her own student
ey." ''Oh. Again?" It all feels — and engage in charming digs, recreated down to
so natural, it's as if we're friend-banter about who's the views from the win-
peering through the win- taking up more room. dows. The soundtrack is
dow blinds with binoculars But it's also clear, at least full of period-appropriate
and should be arrested for to us, that Anthony's even- gems like Joe Jackson's "Is
spying. tually planning to seduce She Really Going Out With
Another reason the film has Julie, and we wince in an- Him?" — definitely an ap-
such an authentic feel is ticipation. We especially propriate question here.
that much of the dialogue cringe when he brings her "We can all be sincere, but
is clearly improvised. The some sexy lingerie as a gift, what's it all for?" Anthony
purpose isn't always clear; launching the sexual rela- says to Julie at one point,
you need to sit back and tionship we know will bring referring in a typically snob-
slow down your pulse to her pain. And that's even bish way to her film aesthet-
watch this type of filmmak- before we learn that An- ic. But sincerity is what an-
ing. Hogg has a plan, but it thony's a heroin addict. chors this film — especially
unfolds slowly. We can only steel our- Swinton Byrne's astonish-
As we meet Julie, she's selves as we watch Julie ingly sincere performance.
pitching her first feature, fall ever deeper, against Bring on the sequel. And
based in the shipbuilding her own judgment. When maybe neuroscience can
city of Sunderland in north- she comes home one day wait. "The Souvenir," an A24
ern England — a world far and he informs her they've release, is rated R by the
from her own privileged been robbed, with all her Motion Picture Association
corner of Knightsbridge in jewelry gone, it's somehow of America "for some sexu-
London. SHE who ends up comfort- ality, graphic nudity, drug
Julie is all earnest ambi- ing HIM. At another point, material and language."
tion, but lacks assurance. when he admits to some Running time: 119 minutes.
Then she meets Anthony, reprehensible behavior, Three stars out of four.q