TIFF 2020 Review: The Third Day

British mainlanders Sam (Jude Law) and Helen (Naomie Harris) arrive on mysterious island for different reasons and discover that there is something menacing beneath the quaint façade.

Through snippets of a cellphone conversation Sam (Jude Law) reveals that he is in financial trouble with a shady figure and is the subject of a police investigation.  He mysteriously places a shirt of a child in a stream that quickly causes it to vanish from view.  On the way back to his car, Sam hears voices in the forest which leads to him transporting a suicidal girl to an island.  In the episode involving Helen (Naomie Harris) it is a predetermined choice to visit the island with her two daughters.

Stylization dominates the visuals and storytelling, thereby, creating a dream-like impressionistic painting that is filled with desaturated earth tones.  It certainly feels in the tradition of The Wicker Man and Deliverance where pagan rituals and religious allegories fill the frame. Amongst the idyllic setting is a malevolent presence that permeates.  The causeway that connects the island to the mainland has a supernatural aura and has a serpentine shape.  Uncomfortable composition is at the forefront with extreme close-ups, and blurry foreground and background elements creating a sense of heightened reality.  The collaboration between of Felix Barrett and Dennis Kelly is not lacking in theatricalism which unfortunately places style over substance and shock over suspense.

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada; he can be found at LinkedIn.