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Review

In an age of homeland security and reality TV, Andrea Arnold’s first feature film arrives just in time. Jackie lives a quiet, complacent life, spending her work days watching a series of cameras set up by a private security firm to monitor local activity. Still grieving over the loss of her husband and child, her social life consists only of a sporadic, unpleasant affair she conducts with a married coworker. One day, she spots the arrival of Clyde, an ex-con, into the recurring cast of characters that appear on the monitors in front of her. Slowly and carefully, she begins to enter the world which she has been watching from the outside for so long as she stalks Clyde, concealing her motives until she finds what she is looking for. Arnold, who previously won an Academy Award for her short Wasp, brilliantly directs this beautifully shot digital video feature, unfolding the puzzle pieces one at a time to carefully construct a surprising bigger picture. Brimming with an atmospheric soundscape and containing what is bound to be the most talked about sex scene in this year’s festival, Arnold’s powerful drama will leave you emotionally riveted and pondering what you have seen for days.

 -- Michael Lerman