Electricity
Director: Bryn Higgins
Starring: Christian Cooke, Paul Anderson, Agyness Deyn
96 mins; Class 15;
Eden Cinemas Release
When Lily O’Connor (Agyness Deyn) learns her mother has died, she and her elder brother Barry (Paul Anderson) meet up to split the inheritance.
Lily wants to seek out their estranged younger brother Mikey (Christian Cooke), who has been missing for years to give him his share.
Lily sets off on her odyssey, impeded by the frequent epileptic fits she suffers, often putting her life in danger. But nothing will stop her reaching the end of her journey.
Electricity is a film that has, at its heart, an intriguing premise that is not realised to the full.
Model-turned-actress Deyn, in her first starring role, carries the bulk of the film on her shoulders but is not quite up to the task.
Director Bryn Higgins has created a no-frills, naturalistic drama about one woman’s quest for answers about the disappearance of a beloved member of a fractured family.
However, he draws too broad a portrait of each of his characters – an abusive mother of whom we get but a glimpse; the older brother who got away; and a younger brother fighting his own demons.
A film that has, at its heart, an intriguing premise that is not realised to the full
Tying all these together is Lily, the film’s protagonist, trying to make sense of her childhood.
While in Deyn, Higgins has found a woman with an undoubtedly charismatic presence and a strong sense of purpose, the actress does not inject the requisite amount of passion or emotion in the character and Lily comes across as rather cold and aloof.
Although her plight, in and of itself, does elicit some sympathy, it is hard to muster any genuine depth of feeling.
For a good part of the film’s running time, she is narrating the story mostly in a detached, matter-of-fact manner that is alienating – almost like she refuses to let anyone get into her head.
Things do get very inventive, however, when we do actually get inside her head; with Higgins making some original visual choices as he allows us to see the world from Lily’s point of view during her frequent epilepsy attacks.
He creates a kaleidoscopic vision of bright lights, sharp edges and hallucinatory images so vivid, you can almost feel the intensity that Lily does.
If only the film offered the audience the opportunity to experience her emotions as deeply as we do her attacks...
Yet, the bottom line is that Electricity doesn’t spark as much as it should.