Undergods

Battleship grey buildings, skies and uniforms overwhelm the opening minutes of Undergods as two men go about their job of collecting bodies in a destitute landscape of hollowed out abodes and apartments. Striking up a conversation the film shifts to a couple in a plain flat presumably not too far away from the aforementioned ‘dead zone’. It’s a smooth segue (as they all are) in this very original and disturbing debut feature from Chino Moya.

Ruth (Hayley Carmichael) and Ron (Michael Gould) are called on by Harry (Ned Dennehy) who says he can’t get into his flat on another floor. He slowly worms his way into the couple’s lives taking liberties along the way, reaching a conclusion that leads a father and daughter. The former a storyteller of a strange tale about a merchant (Eric Godon), an engineer (Jan Bijvoet) with an idea to sell, the merchant’s daughter (Tanya Reynolds) loved by her father and her lover Johann (Tadgh Murphy) leading an unusual conclusion that is satisfying and makes complete sense.

The film continues with its tour of this strange society that one can see so much in common with our now but distorted and exaggerated to extremes: a prison that doubles as a slavery with the most appalling of conditions and the most stomach-churning scenes of food consumption I’ve seen since Taxidermia. From where Sam (Sam Louwyck) is released after 15 years to return home to cause a massive schism between his wife (Kate Dickie) and her now husband (Adrian Rawlings) a frustrated man at home and at work.

This is a strange and challenging film which through Chino Moya’s fluid narrative and direction takes the viewer through a number of linked vignettes. As with most of these types of films some are more satisfying than others (personal taste) though all here have something to commend them.

Regardless of the story though there’s not a great shift in tone from one to the other. The overriding factor is of a bleak, rooted unhappiness within almost all the characters apart from the two body collectors K (Johann Myers) and Z (Géza Röhrig) who open and close the film with appearances within: They don’t seem to be too troubled by their lot.

On a technical note, the film is brilliant. This is very much a visually and sonically driven film with an unnerving bleak synth score by Wojciech Golczewski and a sound that are perfect for the both the huge exterior effects and the more intimate interiors. The latter are clever blend of drab suburbia with – in the merchant’s story - elements of cyberpunk.

The cast are very good too and suitably international this being a production with input from the UK, Sweden, Belgium, Serbia and Estonia. That can sometimes upset a film with each wanting their metre of celluloid but there’s no such issues here with everything seamlessly fitting together.

Undergods will be released at on digital and at selected cinemas from 17 May.