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I resisted reading any reviews or write-ups on this film, such was my desire to come to this new offering by Jane Campion unfettered. Oh how I loved this film, it was beautiful and brutal in equal measures. Long, tense, brittle and erotic, it gathered it’s own exquisite pace through the vast unforgiving expanses of the dying days of the Wild West I guessed the ending long before it came, but many will not, there was a carpet of clues right from the beginning that was only ever heading in one direction. I have read reviews since watching the film and many give away too much, so I will say no more on its denouement. I enjoyed all the parts played in the film, but it is the character played by Benedict Cumberbatch, an excruciating watch in his denial and bitterness and his awkward young foil played by Kodi Smitt-McPhee skilful in his character’s manipulative guile, that offer up the films central story. Homoerotic imagery is everywhere in this film, it is not subtle, but neither is it a stereotype. Lots of nods to Brokeback Mountain, but this is a very, very different film indeed. If you like Jane Campion, if you like Westerns, if you like long slow brooding psychodramas with an enigmatic ending then this is the film for you.

This six part new series on Netflix was just such a compelling psychological thriller. What is it about Scandinavian fiction that makes it always so dark, gruesome and disturbing? The Chestnut Man was all that and more; horrifically graphic and violent throughout, not at all predictable which I thought it might be at first. The two main characters Hess and Thulin were superb in the understated emotional dynamic between them. Both damaged in their own ways pulled together by this in their inability to let go of the search to find the killer. Great stuff!

Brutal, efficient, tense morality tale seeped in the horror of a real world waking nightmare. Acting, actors and the breathtaking Scottish setting were all outstanding. Netflix giving up some fantastic films under their ‘critically acclaimed’ section; I would never have found this film otherwise. Very glad I did.

Just superb. Absolutely exquisite, deeply affecting film. Disturbing, understated and utterly compelling.

Just gorgeous. Acting, plot, script really exquisite. It’s a must watch from me beautifully observed, funny, poignant and very dark at times. Shines a keen light on political correctness and cancel culture and what it means to be older, a person of colour, white, a woman; and what it means to be a student in the 21st century. Hopefully there will be a Season 2. Oh and a sweet little cameo from David Duchovny.