"I hope everyone enjoys... well, perhaps that's the wrong word" said director Henry Coombes introducing the screening of 'Seat in Shadow' at the 2016 Edinburgh International Film Festival. "I hope everyone gets something out of it" he substituted. Was he right?
Central to the film is the performance of David Sillars as Albert, an ageing, sometime-psychotherapist now addicted to YouTube self-help videos (when he first appears he is making toothpaste from charcoal) and creating rather dreadful artworks. Albert is asked to exercise his psychotherapy skills once more to help the down-in-the-mouth Ben, a young man with a domineering boyfriend. Sillars - gifted with a great part (tellingly, he co-wrote the script with Coombes) - is terrific, convincingly portraying Albert as by turns gullible (all those self-help videos), pathetic (dancing with gay abandon opposite a potted palm in a nightclub) and inspiring confidence (in his therapy sessions with Ben).
Sillars' powerhouse performance would put all but the most talented actors in the shade; sadly Jonathan Leslie, as Ben, appears very inexperienced, delivering his lines in a lifeless way that suggests he's reading them for the first time. It does not help that his part is under-written: beyond a few scenes with his boyfriend and a bit of cod psychology involving a doll he once made out of twigs, we get very little idea of what makes him tick. A different actor might build on what little the script gives him in order to create a bit of interest for the audience - Ben is, after all, suffering - but Leslie does not make the effort.
As well as the lack of character development, the solution to Ben's troubles seems too conveniently arrived at, as if the screenwriters grew bored and decided to quickly wrap things up. So - Sillars' performance aside - I would have to say this film is a disappointment.
Central to the film is the performance of David Sillars as Albert, an ageing, sometime-psychotherapist now addicted to YouTube self-help videos (when he first appears he is making toothpaste from charcoal) and creating rather dreadful artworks. Albert is asked to exercise his psychotherapy skills once more to help the down-in-the-mouth Ben, a young man with a domineering boyfriend. Sillars - gifted with a great part (tellingly, he co-wrote the script with Coombes) - is terrific, convincingly portraying Albert as by turns gullible (all those self-help videos), pathetic (dancing with gay abandon opposite a potted palm in a nightclub) and inspiring confidence (in his therapy sessions with Ben).
Sillars' powerhouse performance would put all but the most talented actors in the shade; sadly Jonathan Leslie, as Ben, appears very inexperienced, delivering his lines in a lifeless way that suggests he's reading them for the first time. It does not help that his part is under-written: beyond a few scenes with his boyfriend and a bit of cod psychology involving a doll he once made out of twigs, we get very little idea of what makes him tick. A different actor might build on what little the script gives him in order to create a bit of interest for the audience - Ben is, after all, suffering - but Leslie does not make the effort.
As well as the lack of character development, the solution to Ben's troubles seems too conveniently arrived at, as if the screenwriters grew bored and decided to quickly wrap things up. So - Sillars' performance aside - I would have to say this film is a disappointment.
