Caporegime
Possum brings together three great names that should be familiar to fans of English TV and cinema: Alun Armstrong, Sean Harris, and Matthew Holness. Armstrong and Harris have the leading roles, while Holness wrote the script (based on a short story he published in 2008). Possum is his cinematic debut.
Armstrong is a highly respected veteran of TV, cinema, and stage. Harris is famous for his gritty portrayal of 'outsider' characters in TV and film. Holness is renowned for the much loved cult classic, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace.
Possum is not easily categorised. IMDB lazily refers to it as 'drama, horror, thriller', but while Possum is all of these, it is also much more. The filthy and claustrophobic setting, the toxicity of the main characters' relationship, the horrifically bleak visuals, and the sparseness of the dialogue all combine to produce an incredibly intense psychological experience.
Armstrong and Harris both deliver outstanding performances, but it is Harris who steals every scene. We are never told his character's age; it could be anything between 20 and 40, though he sometimes gives the impression of being in his late teens. This unsettling ambiguity is made even more impressive by the fact that Harris himself is 52.
Shot on Super 35 and honed to a gorgeous 2K in post-production, Possum is worth watching simply for the creepiness of Harris' painfully odd body language, but it also has a monster—the titular 'Possum'—that is nothing short of high octane nightmare fuel. The precise nature of Possum is open to multiple interpretations, though there are plenty of clues about which of these is favoured by Holness.
I rate Possum at 29.97 on the Haglee Scale, which works out as a heart-stopping 9/10 on IMDB.
Armstrong is a highly respected veteran of TV, cinema, and stage. Harris is famous for his gritty portrayal of 'outsider' characters in TV and film. Holness is renowned for the much loved cult classic, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace.
Possum is not easily categorised. IMDB lazily refers to it as 'drama, horror, thriller', but while Possum is all of these, it is also much more. The filthy and claustrophobic setting, the toxicity of the main characters' relationship, the horrifically bleak visuals, and the sparseness of the dialogue all combine to produce an incredibly intense psychological experience.
Armstrong and Harris both deliver outstanding performances, but it is Harris who steals every scene. We are never told his character's age; it could be anything between 20 and 40, though he sometimes gives the impression of being in his late teens. This unsettling ambiguity is made even more impressive by the fact that Harris himself is 52.
Shot on Super 35 and honed to a gorgeous 2K in post-production, Possum is worth watching simply for the creepiness of Harris' painfully odd body language, but it also has a monster—the titular 'Possum'—that is nothing short of high octane nightmare fuel. The precise nature of Possum is open to multiple interpretations, though there are plenty of clues about which of these is favoured by Holness.
I rate Possum at 29.97 on the Haglee Scale, which works out as a heart-stopping 9/10 on IMDB.
