Review of Archipelago (2016) by Anne F — 06 Jun 2011
Just what it's like to watch a different family with its own customs, boundaries and flaws. This one is particularly fractured, and quite exclusive. The traumas each has experienced in the past, or expect in the imminent future, are palpable and chilling.
An effective articulation of how we experience loss and absence, even in the bosom of family, the company of new people, and especially in places from the past. A little close to the bone actually. Family and natural beauty persist despite loss, but the world is transformed, as melancholic as these clouded landscapes of Scilly.
It only appears hopeful, colourful, in the paintings of the character Chris, who's found his centre. His only consolation is to commit to a path and have faith in it. Others will believe you if you believe in yourself, and then things will sort themselves out.
It helps if there's something you deeply want to do. Chris is lucky in having a love of painting. The others are looking for something to love, having lost what they did.
This review of Archipelago (2016) was written by Anne F on 06 Jun 2011.
Archipelago has generally received mixed reviews.
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