Brighton born director Jamie Patterson’s latest film The Kindred has just had its world premiere at this year’s Arrow Video FrightFest. Screening as part of the opening night selection on the main screen, The Kindred offers an intriguing mixture of British drama and supernatural investigation. The film opens as a young woman, Helen (April Pearson), flees a tower block of flats. In her haste to escape, she is hit by a car; cut to a year later, Helen wakes up in a hospital bed. She is confronted by the news of how long she has been in a coma, her father’s suicide (which happened the same night as her accident), and the fact that she now has a daughter. As Helen returns home – which after so me financial difficulties is now her deceased father’s flat – she struggles to adjust to all the change around her. Putting her life back together is a difficult and daunting prospect, further worsened by a series of strange occurrences that leave Helen wondering whether her father might have been a child killer.
The Kindred has two different halves to it. The first is the mystery thriller that has Helen asking if her father was responsible for the deaths of multiple children, but the second and arguably more interesting part, is the exploration of the themes of motherhood. Having given birth whilst in a coma, Helen hasn’t had the usual time to bond with her daughter, meeting her for the first time when she’s already a few months old. Helen then struggles to recognise the child as having come from her, and with the baby so used to just dad, there’s a series of awkward encounters between mother and daughter. It’s an extreme fictionalized situation but one that has plenty of truth to it, the sub-plot presenting a version of potential postpartum depression. Helen is riddled with guilt about her feelings – or lack thereof – towards her child and The Kindred exposes the stresses, struggles, and guilt that many parents feel upon the arrival of their bundle of joy.
April Pearson gives an excellent lead performance. Helen is a complicated character to inhabit and make viable, but Pearson handles the task superbly. Given Helen’s strange circumstances, there must be a temptation and pull to push the role into the hysterical broken woman arena, and whilst Pearson certainly flirts with the idea in a couple of moments, for most of the film she keeps her performance more natural. Pearson’s work at conveying the complexities of Helen’s feelings towards her child is beautiful, the ex-Skins star digs deep to generate a strong dramatic performance that elicits plenty of empathy from the viewer. It’s a brilliant example of how to play the woman on edge in a way that maximises the emotional turmoil without being too overwrought.
Alongside Pearson we have former Inbetweener Blake Harrison as Helen’s husband Greg. Although a character kept on the periphery, further highlighting Helen’s distance, Harrison is given plenty to do. Best known for his work within comedy, here the actor has some really tough emotions to convey as Greg struggles to readjust to having Helen back in the land of the living. Initially Greg appears as the perfect partner, doting and loving when Helen awakes from her coma, excited to introduce her to their child. Once home however, the facade begins to slip, Greg’s apparent resentment for having had to put his life on hold to take care of everything rising to the fore. His frustration at the lack of bond between mother and baby serves only to further exacerbate Helen’s feelings of failings.
Stylistically, Patterson’s film is akin to watching a gritty British television drama, the kind that ITV do so well. This isn’t a slight on the movie, some of those shows have done incredibly well, but it instead signifies that The Kindred is a film that is British to its core. Adding in the supernatural elements keeps things exciting, and with these sequences Patterson embraces the power of the dark, and the easy ability that a child murmuring in the night has to be terrifying, to create some unsettling moments. The scare sequences may be kept to a minimum, Patterson allowing the dark subject matter to speak for itself, but when they do occur, they create a sustained feeling of dread.
The Kindred features some stunning performances, a chilling plot, and an honest portrayal of the struggles of being a parent. A riveting and effective tale with a bleak conclusion, The Kindred is the perfect bridge between British television drama and independent horror.
The Kindred
Summary
The British kitchen-sink drama version of The Babadook, The Kindred presents some chilling ideas whilst also shining a light on the hardships faced by some who struggle to connect with their offspring.
The Kindred was reviewed at Arrow Video FrightFest 2021.
