Philip returns to his childhood home and his wicked uncle. Past traumas come to the surface here.

I was surprised that I had never heard of this film made by Matthew Holness and starring Sean Harris as Philip. But, on beginning to watch it, I realised why. The BFI logo came up and I soon found out that they had part financed it too. ‘Oh, Christ! Will I be forced to watch art?!‘ I thought. For me, watching arthouse fare is akin to having to eat muesli rather than a Full English breakfast. It’s good for you but no fun.

And I was right. The plot and themes are great (returning home to face old demons, childhood trauma, exorcising old ghosts) but the way Possum has been made is so self-consciously meaningful and profound that I started to roll my eyes at record rates.

If this hadn’t been so pretentious, Possum might have been a great film. But we get so many silences and stares into the middle ground and accompanying shots that are pure Film School 101 that I’m surprised more people haven’t criticised this film (objects such as balloons and a fox- they’re symbolic! They mean something!) And how many shots do we need of the lead character carrying the puppet around in a bag?

The patrons of the NFT can praise this to high heaven. I’ll stick to more exciting fare. I watched The Warriors after watching this snooze fest. It was for balance.

1 out of 5 stars