Review of A Field in England (2013) by Row C — 18 Dec 2014

A Field in England (2013).

Directed by Ben Wheatley.

An assortment of men leave a battlefield and head towards a rumored ale house in 17th-century England. On the way, they cross through farmland and have strange, hallucinogenic encounters.

Cody: I wasn't expecting dry Shakespeare. The trippy trailer I saw in theatres seemed to promise me something different - and something I was looking forward to. But, I'll be honest, this field in England? It was pretty empty. I guess I thought it would be more noticeable when everyone was tripping on mushrooms - but even those parts seemed to meander and I kept wondering - are they high yet? I wasn't high. Maybe that was the problem?

Laura: I agree that I was anticipating something different and, honestly, I was a bit let down that this wasn't trippy-er. The film had a seizure warning right at the beginning and I truly wanted more seizure-inducing moments - those were my favorite parts! But the biggest problem for me was that I had no idea what was going on in the film. I could hardly understand the old English accents and I just didn't get the strange storyline.

Cody: Yeah. For me, it was hard to get into this film and hard to follow because of the minimal character development in the setup - so I really didn't have much empathy for any of the characters and they were just wandering, greasy dudes.

Laura: I agree! I couldn't tell some of the characters apart for the first 2/3rds of the film. I will say that when I did get to know the characters, I enjoyed them all a lot - but that was only about the last half hour of the film.

Cody: For a film with just five main characters and a minimal budget, A Field in England did not feel small to me. The dusty costume design and unkempt makeup really sold me on the era. To me, this just one of those cult films for people who like those old one-act plays. I've heard a lot of people say they think it's very funny - but, to me, it was just boring and didn't meet the hype. I can't help wondering if people are just saying they like this film because they like the Alamo Drafthouse's Tim League and because Drafthouse Films usually picks up great releases.

Laura: I would forgive this film for being a little boring, confusing and for not meeting the standards set by the trailer if it were beautiful - but I didn't think it was. I was not impressed by the cinematography - save a few wide shots and a string of extreme close-ups. It also just felt, in general, low-budget to me in a not good way. I'm half tempted to re-watch this film just to see if I could get a better understanding of it - but I don't think I could actually sit through it again.

A Field in England (2013) is available on Netflix and Amazon Prime.