X
- 2013
- Not Rated
- Meneret Productions
- 1 h 18 m
- 2013
- Not Rated
- Meneret Productions
- 1 h 18 m
Summary A group of young Londoners struggle to find meaning in their lives while masking their discontent with sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll. The story centers on ex-model and aspiring actress Alice (Antonia Campbell-Hughes) and her relationship with Charlie (Johnny Flynn), her drug-addicted ex-boyfriend.
Directed By: Alexandra McGuinness
Written By: Brendan Grant, Alexandra McGuinness
- 2013
- Not Rated
- Meneret Productions
- 1 h 18 m
- 2013
- Not Rated
- Meneret Productions
- 1 h 18 m
Lotus Eaters
36
7.3
Summary A group of young Londoners struggle to find meaning in their lives while masking their discontent with sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll. The story centers on ex-model and aspiring actress Alice (Antonia Campbell-Hughes) and her relationship with Charlie (Johnny Flynn), her drug-addicted ex-boyfriend.
Directed By: Alexandra McGuinness
Written By: Brendan Grant, Alexandra McGuinness
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 7 Critic Reviews
36
14% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
71% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
14% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 7 Critic Reviews
36
14% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
71% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
14% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
The free spirit-ness of its characters is certainly mirrored in the film's aesthetic playfulness, but the initial glimmer of Fassbinder-esque expression quickly veers toward Xavier Dolan-grade affectation.
Less a succinct narrative than a meandering portrait of several ultra-rich, ultra-empty thirtysomethings who waste away their days with sex, drugs and ennui, the film offers a few decent performances captured with New Wave-style visuals, but is not quite the social exposé or melancholic drama it aims to be.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 7 User Ratings
7.3
71% Positive
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
0% Mixed
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
29% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 7 User Ratings
7.3
71% Positive
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
0% Mixed
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
29% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
Alexandra McGuinness' directorial debut is an enchanting and beautifully shot film set in today's London and Ireland. It follows the lives **** of 20 something who are still trying to figure out what direction their lives should take. Accompanied by a powerful soundtrack, Lotus Eaters is not to be missed!
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This excellently photographed black and white movie introduces us to a glamorous world of young and beautiful jet-setters. The characters especially the sensitive and puzzling Alice, played by Antonia Campbell-Hughes, share with us the difficulty experienced by people in their 20s to find a meaning of their life, to find a way to leave this Lotus Eaters' idleness. The amazing soundtrack led by Johnny Flynn is the cherry on the cake. Great cast, great movie, a must-see!
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McGuinness has a commendable grasp of visual textures and rhythms. It will be interesting to see what she does with a stronger story to tell. Here, reaching for dramatic effect, she comes up empty.
What Lotus Eaters can take pride in are Gareth Munden’s stunning black-and-white cinematography and Ms. Campbell-Hughes, a riveting visual subject suggesting miles of internal depth. She makes this wallow in callow company watchable.
Lotus Eaters, which McGuinness co-wrote with Brendan Grant, is maddeningly shallow—maybe that's the point—but McGuinness does have talent.
Perhaps the director is trying to show her socialites’ path to finding themselves, but her point ends up as lost as the film’s aimless hedonists; like its characters, Lotus Eaters is a visual treat—and emotionally vapid.
Picture has some redeeming features, like its glossy, fashion-shoot-inspired black-and-white look, and a clutch of respectable performances among some very poor ones from the toothsome young cast, but the script is a mess, the characters barely sympathetic.
McGuinness uses very amazing allegories throughout her movie. The ambiguity between the pace of the Lotus Eaters (quiet slow) and its dramatic events makes this movie a powerful and provocative one. The shots are incredible, not to mention the musics. Lotus Eaters is not simply about the "glamorous world of young and beautiful jet-setters." McGuinness introduces, subtly, layers to her story that are very much into philosophy.
The allegory of the death of the horse and the car crash is a critical moment of tension that reflects the filmmaker's genius. Unfortunately, after this shot the movie ends...
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Beautifully shot by Garret Munden in black and white. Fantastic soundtrack by live bands (Little Death, O Children, Johnny Flynn) is almost a character in the film, along the wonderful Antonia Campbell-Hughes (Bright Star, Albert Nobbs) and Benn Northover (Harry Potter)
In her first film, Alexandra McGuinness manages to capture the lives of hedonistic spoiled Londoners, their hopelessness, their confusion, their beauty, and their quest for eternal youth. In a few words, a subtle variation of the quest for identity for people in their 20s, on top of sex, drugs and rock'n roll.
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If it were a thirty second advert for a new aftershave I could probably digest it, but the glossy aesthetics alone couldn't save this film. Weak script perpetuating nauseating characters (who were a real challenge to feel any sympathy for, or even any significant response to for that matter.) Pass me the Rennies.
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Production Company
McGuinnessLee,
Fastnet Films,
Bord Scannán na hÉireann / The Irish Film Board
Release Date Apr 5, 2013
Duration 1 h 18 m
Rating Not Rated
Genres
Tagline n. a person who spends time indulging in pleasure and luxury rather than dealing with practical concerns.
