Arcadia (2017)

Arcadia (2017)

A bizarre and hypnotic look at British paganism

7.0

Movie

United Kingdom
English
Documentary
2017
PAUL WRIGHT
Ian Sexon
82 min

What it's about

A provocative and poetic exploration of how the British people have seen their own land through more than a century of cinema. A hallucinated journey of immense beauty and brutality. A kaleidoscopic essay on how magic and madness have linked human beings to nature since the beginning of time.

The take

From early footage of country-folk threshing their crops to blissed-out clubbers at a rave, there is a mesmerizing, insistent sense of rhythm and motion to Arcadia. Director Paul Wright has curated an astonishing array of archive material for this feature-length video montage examining the British and their sometimes uneasy relationship with the land.

Cut together in loosely chronological order, the footage is enigmatic, seductive, and disturbing, set to a haunting soundtrack from Adrian Utley of Portishead and Will Gregory of Goldfrapp. Watching Arcadia is hypnotic, like wading into the uncertain waters of time with a head full of shrooms. And that’s definitely a good thing.

Comments

Add a comment

Your name

Your comment

UP NEXT 

UP NEXT 

UP NEXT 

Power (2024)

A highly informative but ultimately flat account of the history of policing in America

6.9

The Guilty (2018)

A minimalist, razor-sharp thriller that will have you gasping for air.

9.0

Forgotten Love (2023)

The stunning third take of the classic Polish pre-war melodrama

7.7

Uncropped (2024)

A delightful documentary that doubles as a biography of a singular artist and a celebration of a bygone era

7.9

System Crasher (2019)

A tale of trauma and one of the most talked about movies on Netflix in 2020.

9.0

Italian for Beginners (2000)

An understated, lighthearted romantic comedy made much more naturalistic through the Dogme ethos

7.0

La Belle Noiseuse (1991)

A sensual, spellbinding masterpiece depicting the creative process and its muse

8.1

Leave the World Behind (2023)

Shyamalan meets Black Mirror in this hugely entertaining, visually inventive apocalyptic thriller with a killer ending

8.2

Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry (2023)

A meditative character study of an independent middle-aged woman

7.2

Hail Satan? (2019)

Forget everything you think you know about the Satanic Temple

8.0

Curated by humans, not algorithms.

agmtw logo

© 2024 agoodmovietowatch, all rights reserved.