As I mentioned briefly near the end of our Beasts of the Southern Wild-centered episode of The Film Stage Show, I recently watched Cate Shortland‘s Somersault via Netflix Instant, and the timing couldn’t have been better. It’s a quiet firecracker of a directorial debut, and in some ways, I’m glad I waited until now to see it, or else the eight-year wait in between that film’s theatrical release and Lore, Shortland‘s TIFF-selected World War II drama, would’ve been all the more trying.
The Playlist has pointed us towards the first trailer for the film, which coincides nicely with the boost of buzz it’s been receiving as of late. In addition to the TIFF selection, Lore was also greeted with extremely positive reviews upon premiering at this year’s Sydney Film Festival. While Yorgos Lanthimos‘s Alps, an amazing film in its own right, took home the top prize at Sydney, many journalists were eager to point out how equally enthused festival-goers were with Lore. To quote In Contention‘s Guy Lodge, “the film about which I heard the most chatter from Sydney, was ‘Lore.'”
While we’re obviously dealing with a much different beast than Somersault, which found its focus in a young Abbie Cornish‘s budding relationship with Sam Worthington, Lore is beginning to sound like one of the very best types of sophomore features: the kind that expand a filmmaker’s scope without misguided messiness slipping through the cracks. Of course, we’ll have to wait until the rest of us have seen the film to make that judgement for certain. You’ll find the embedded trailer and the TIFF synopsis below.
Synopsis:
Left to fend for herself when her SS officer father is captured by the victorious Allies at the end of World War II, a fourteen-year-old German girl (striking newcomer Saskia Rosendahl) must lead her four siblings on a gruelling trek across the war-ravaged countryside — and must put her trust in the very person she was taught to hate.
Have you seen Somersault? If so, do you have similarly high expectations for Lore?