The 54th BFI Film Festival - Two Gates of Sleep

Two Gates of Sleep is beautifully shot, zooming in on Nature's intricate details, then panning out to bright cloudy skies. The dialogue is sparse so that each word counts, as with poetry. Despite the short script, Brady Corbet and David Call still manage to portray a vast amount of information and insight into their characters' lives.

In the film, Corbet and Call play two brothers living in a remote shack on the Louisiana-Mississippi border. The second half of the film is taken up with the emotionally and physically tiring journey of the two brothers carrying their mother's coffin to lay her to rest in the woods. The title's reference to Homer's Odyssey highlights the difference between the two brothers and how they deal with their mother's death.  

The director, Alistair Banks Griffin, referenced Japanese and French cinema of the 50s and 60s as his inspiration. This may all sound far too pretentious and 'arty farty' for some readers but this film is certainly worth seeing for the cinematography alone.

Love, 


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