Wayland's Song   Starring: Michael Nardone, Alan McKenna, Hannah Lederer and Rob James-Collier Distributor: Koch Media RRP: £19.99 Certificate: 15 Release Date: 30 September 2013

Returning home from Afghanistan Wayland goes in search for his missing daughter. With only a screamed plea for help left on his phone, he starts working through her friends and contacts...

Wayland's Song (2013 - 1 hr, 36 min, 06 sec) is a drama written and directed by Richard Jobson.

The film is essentially a revenge thriller, with Wayland sinking downwards through the circles of society’s hellish pits. Wayland, barely smiling, moves from person to person slowly piecing together the last hours of his daughter's life, before she made the fateful phone call, unaware if she is alive or dead.

There is some great imagery in the film, if you pay attention. When Wayland visits an artist he is framed against one of the paintings with only the wings visible making him look like the angel of death. It’s a reflection of the man he has become on the killing fields of Helmand Province, where he lost his humanity and soul.

This is just one example in a film which displays a real visual flair, where the lighting and screen composition do much to hold your attention. Jobson throws up lurid reds, pale yellows, few scenes are naturalistic in colour and yet while stylish the film never seems over stylised.

Michael Nardone imbues Wayland with a calmly chilling stillness, racking up the film's tension, making the periods of violence all the more shocking. Much of the film centres on Wayland, and Nardone does well to carry the weight of the script. It’s not an easy role; Wayland is removed from his own feelings, plagued by memories of his time in Afghanistan. There is little lightness here as Wayland has as much chance of finding his daughter and redemption as he does spiralling down into his own madness. The film is grim, but it’s a compelling grimness almost like a filmic tone poem.

Wayland does not stand alone and the character is helped by a good supporting cast, Simone Lahbib (June), Hannah Lederer (Natalie) and Orla Brady (Grace), plus an assorted cast of actors playing scumbags.

Overall, the film is a compelling, if not an easy watch.The pace is designed to create a tension that barely lets up and Wayland is so lost in his own problems that few positive emotions pass between him and the other characters.

You could argue that there is a little loss of originality, the film is basically a revenge thriller, but the sub-genre has its own set of rules and tropes, one would not accuse a comedy of being unoriginal just because the last comedy you watched was also funny, so I feel the film should be judged on its own merits within the genre which defines it. In this case the film is a cracking revenge thriller, providing mystery, suspense and occasional action.

The disc contains no extras, but the print is pristine with audio options for2.0 stereo and 5.1 Dolby Digital, the latter selection adds much to the films atmospherics.

7

Charles Packer