Kaleidoscope Entertainments
From writer and director Barnaby Southcombe (I, Anna) comes an absorbing screen version of Fiona Evans’ play of the same name, a drama focusing on two couples staying in a sprawling coastal hotel, their relationships seemingly mirroring one another.
We are first introduced to Jodhi May’s Liz. who has arrived at The Grand Hotel on the bay seafront of the popular British tourist resort of Scarborough on the north east coast of England. She seems nervous and soon we learn that she isn’t alone. She’s a schoolteacher and has arrived for a weekend stayl with Daz (Jordan Bolger), a sixteen-year-old who we discover is one of her students, one who she’s having a passionate affair with.
We then meet Beth (Jessica Barden), a sixteen-year-old who is accompanied by an older man, thirty-something Aiden (Edward Hogg), a couple also embroiled in a relationship, though it is clear that are staying at the accommodation on two separate weekends. Although the two couples never interact with one another, it is clear that each of their actions within the confines of the hotel and the surrounding area is similar to one another.
Related: Trailer arrives for upcoming drama Scarborough
Southcombe’s film version of the play, first performed in the story of which I was unfamiliar with prior to viewing, is both absorbing from the start, if a little unsettling in places. The performances from the central cast; four talented actors in May, Bolger, Hogg and Barden, are one of the film’s biggest assets, though Southcombe’s staging is also exceptional, both theatrical in its feel but also cinematic in its execution. The narrative pulls you in immediately, the unconventional structure both involving and intriguing, the viewer unknowing of the connection to the near-identical stories playing out, though willing to stick with it to the dramatic conclusion to see how things play out. The two narratives are stitched together cleverly and although the connection may be a little obvious and second guessed from early on, none of it detracts from the enjoyment of the overall piece.
Veering enough from what could have been a film with a very televisual feel -we’ve seen similar stories play out on the small-screen of late – Scarborough has some exceptional production values – the cinematography from Ian Liggett and the music by Daniel Pemberton (Ocean’s 8, upcoming Motherless Brooklyn) are are particularly outstanding – that make it well-deserved of its place on the big screen. Definitely one to seek out.
Scarborough is released in cinemas on 6th September.
