Coombs

If Samuel Beckett had lived in Scotland and made a great film it would be this a lucid sometimes funny and profoundly compassionate study of extreme old age death grief and loneliness These facts of life are revealed in an act of virtuoso filmmaking that is dedicated laconic and ultimately impossible as it may seem uplifting A unique experience this is a very significant and totally original film that will test and reward any audience The challenge is to spend time with lonely old people and Dolak is unflinching He handles words sounds and image with extreme care His film is composed of long takes that juxtapose a daily routine alongside the expansive and empty landscapes of the north east and both shot in exquisitely beautiful monochrome Everything seems settled and inevitable until the film makes a completely unexpected move into another realm and intimates a further reach of the imagination