Yr Ymadawiad (2015) Reviews

• Intriguing requires intellectual and historical references

  lenard_poon2018-05-28

  I started watching this movie anticipating a 'horror flick. I kept waiting for the usual horror of blood, guts, shock, ghastly images and loud abrupt sounds. None of that is present. With Welsh language and english subscript, in a sublime remote mountain valley setting, one is drawn in to watch an intriguing sad story reveal itself at a painstaking pace. Other reviews reveal the subplots, so I'll not go into details. However, the ending was abrupt and I found it confusing. So, this morning I just had to investigate the meaning that I couldn't comprehend to fully appreciate The Passing. The cinematography, the Valley, the continuous references to water, headstones, going away, the incestual relationship, the condescending and spiteful attitudes toward Stanley and the overwhelming sadness make sense when you study the history of Capel Celyn, a tiny Welsh hamlet, that was flooded to make way for the Trywern Reservoir to provide water for Liverpool England nearly 60 years ago. The Welsh had no say in England's decision to permanently end the last purely Welsh speaking village and all it's residents were forced to leave and carry on as opposed to drowning with the flooding death of their beloved home. One of the main controversies was the removal of headstones and relocation of the cemetary.

• A DEEP cinematic experience.

  xzcgb2016-05-11

  This film must rank as one of the best to come out of Wales, either in English or in welsh....and if you want to know something about Wales please watch this rather than John Ford's How Green Was My Valley (which by the way is surely due an authentic Welsh remake). Sadly Yr Ymadawiad has had minimal cinematic exposure in its own country, (I saw it at a one off sub-titled screening in my local Odeon, in Swansea, at 11pm on a Saturday night), and the reason for this must inevitably be the pervading attitude in large parts of Wales towards its mother tongue. Of the handful of welsh language (or Cymraeg) cinematic films in existence this one definitely ranks as one of the finest. It demonstrates a maturity, a depth, and a raw dramatic impact which keeps the viewer glued throughout. Having said that is it a slow paced piece, with only three main characters to keep the story alive, yet the constant twists, the slow reveals, and the mounting tension, makes for a tumultuous climax. With shades of M.Night Shyalaman, there is something unforgettable here. An incredibly sad film, which in some ways contains elements of many other great ghost films. The characters are completely tied up in their own conflicts, pain, and obsessions. But these somehow come together,leading seamlessly to a tragic denouement. The ultimate scene is well worth waiting for, and though it works as a stand alone cinematic twist it is especially poignant if you are 'up on' welsh social history of post-war Wales. I didn't see it coming, but it has stayed with me. A haunting, sad experience...which actually achieves something rarely seen in welsh popular art: something deep about the native culture is conveyed from the point of view of the native culture itself. Overall, this is an accessible, original work, and certainly worth a watch for anyone be they welsh speaking or not.

• Some reviewers misunderstood this movie

  IzumiShikibu12017-09-26

  OK, yes, this movie has some continuity and other errors. I agree that pushing the wrecked car uphill through dense forest from the crash site to this remote farmhouse would be a completely impossible task, so yes, at that point of the movie it bothered me. *Major spoiler alerts!* *Please stop reading until you've watched!* But once the full story is revealed, I realized why that event is irrelevant: it's not happening in real life...in the living world. Throughout the movie, Stanley, the farmhouse's apparently lone inhabitant - but is he? - is digging a well. Ian, the young man from the car wreck, asks Stanley, is he sure he'll find water? "There's water everywhere" Stanley cryptically replies. Does he say that because rain is pouring down? Or is it because water IS everywhere, in real life, in the living world? "whatithinkis" was bothered that Sarah has repetitive drowning dreams, yet the car wrecks into a shallow river. Ridiculous, right? No, because the shallow river doesn't exist, it is not real, it's not in real life, not in the living world. "whatithinkis" can't figure out how nice meals show up when there are just a few chickens around, and a couple of rabbits are all that is caught for food. Again, not real. When we eat while we're dreaming, is the food real? No. And since none of us knows for sure, the next question is: can we eat, or think we're eating, after we die? Hopefully you're catching my drift here. The story as we watch it play out is not happening in real life. The car crash brings the young couple to another realm, but reality continually intrudes: near-constant rain yet sunbeams filter through, the ground is never dry but always soaked, we never hear birds, the only animals we see are dead or dying. The curtains look clean but debris and moist dust is everywhere. Stanley is digging a well and the faucets produce rusty spurts, yet there is water for washing, bathing, in toilets everywhere. Why? Because "water is everywhere" in the real world. What we see is both real and unreal because one of the characters has not completely entered this unreal world, and at the very end we find out what this person decides to do. And from this we can now understand why the drowning dreams have nothing to do with a shallow river. The young couple from the car wreck have a very dark, disturbing secret. I'm not convinced it's a plot device needed for this story but it certainly helps explain some of their dysfunctional interactions & Ian's cruelty towards Stanley. He's like most bullies: the more they self-loathe the more they lash out against others, especially those they perceive as weaker. Stanley's story comes out slowly with hints and glimpses. I thought this was a beautifully filmed movie. The constant rain really comes out as a character itself. The music is truly lovely, subtle and stays humbly in the background. The acting is excellent. Mark Lewis, a physically large, robust man who's played strong male characters in his career, is utterly convincing as a "slow" adult, a lonely soul in a man's body with adult desires but a child's level of comprehension of the strange sexuality of the two young people who suddenly invade his valley. The pacing is s-l-o-w. The story for the most part creeps along. The "horror", as it were, is also very subtle, but the hints are there to see, if you look. This film is in Welsh with English subtitles, so I'm afraid for these reasons many viewers will be turned off and this may get relegated to the "art film" department. I don't try to figure out movies as I watch, so I didn't think the ending was obvious. As soon as it played out, however, I completely understood the entire film, and so in the end found it satisfactory.

• A hidden gem

  catherine-432017-03-27

  The Passing is an excellent feature that belies its low budget production. Beautifully shot and well- acted, with an intriguing script and embellished by a wonderful score, it's a real shame this film has not found a wider audience. I wonder of the fact that it is a Welsh-language feature (the first ever, I think) has put people off? That would be a shame because the film bears comparison with any European film of a similar ilk. It's well worth seeking out. So far, The Passing is only available via the BFI website (which is how I came across it), but hopefully it will make its way onto a more mainstream platform before too long. Highly recommended.

• Welsh Suspense and Surprise

  samkan2017-07-14

  Wales is a beautiful country and Welsh a beautiful language. Add this haunting story and you've a sure winner. What's great about this film is the pacing, oh so slow at first, just enough to keep your interest. Then a slow and improbable -but believable- sexual tension that builds to a crescendo that is tragic on more than one level. Oddly, though a clear supernatural element is introduced rather early, such takes a distant back seat to the real life drams taking place among our three characters - or is it real life at all? All this plus a surprise ending. Excellent camera work. Having gushed this much, THE PASSING is not for everyone; e,g, some horror fans might be disappointed. I'll take this film over an American slasher or zombie flick any day!