Olly Buxton

Started off very well: Nicole Kidman in typical ice-queen mode, Liev Schrieber playing the dusky husky philandering husband, and Dakota Fanning and others nicely setting up a Dallas-style spoilt rich brat vibe for lots of outrageous shenanigans up in Nantucket. But quickly you realise there are no sympathetic characters: you wish someone would bludgeon the lot of them to death, and rather than letting the characters do their thing, the narrative is very plot focussed, and the plot6 is just not remotely plausible. There are the typical gumshoe tropes of *everyone* having a motive and OF COURSE it is the person you least expect (okay we had picked the Polish maid as an outlier but we weren't that far off. Ultimately felt like time I'll never get back.

Not perfect but full marks for ambition and lack of compromise. Lit very dark - I can't remember a darker film - but beautiful tableaux, arresting images, sound. It's not at all linear. A bit like being in a bad dream or on a trip. No hint of irony or humour, which is also brave an swims against the current. If your idea of cinema is X-Men stay away. If you liked Pan’s Labyrinth or Excalibur, form an orderly queue.

Very well done. Non linear, with its own cut up, oblique strategic feel. Will please deep and die hard fans, and will pique the curiosity of casual listeners.