Venice and Toronto. Vinyan.

"A Franco-British couple whose son is presumed drowned in 2004's Tsunami embark on a riveting and oppressive Heart Of Darkness-style journey after glimpsing a few video frames of a child who could be theirs," writes Lisa Nesselson for Screen Daily.

"A stunning cinematic enterprise in more ways than one, the potent imagery and unsettling sound design in Fabrice Du Welz's Vinyan yield a memorable immersive experience about the perils of testing the law of the jungle without a lawyer."

Updated through 9/9.

"Turning from a heartfelt examination of loss into a would-be horror tale filled with drunken dreams and hallucinations, the film loses its way leaving stars Emmanuelle Beart and Rufus Sewell, doing the best they can, wandering lost in a morass of thick forest and missed opportunities," writes Ray Bennett in the Hollywood Reporter. "With the drama not dramatic and the horror not horrifying, the film will be difficult to sell."

"Intermittently compelling, Southeast Asia-set supernatural thriller plays like an uneasy combo of Don't Look Now and Thai ghost stories," writes Alissa Simon in Variety. "Despite some haunting images and an eerily transcendent perf from Emmanuelle Beart, general auds will find it hard to overlook the plot's gaping holes and loose ends. Not completely satisfying for the Fangoria crowd, either, it's unlikely to break out of the upscale horror ghetto."

Blake Ethridge has pix and gathers loads of linkage.

Trailer.

Next stop: Toronto.

Updates, 9/5: "In the end Vinyan is one of those frustrating 'almost' films," writes Todd Brown at Twitch, "a film blessed with a stellar cast, compelling premise and visual style to spare but ultimately let down by a script that just doesn't seem quite finished. It could be a great film, it's got almost all of the elements in place. But almost just doesn't quite get you there."

"Every festival needs an authentic weirdie, an affront to cinematic decency, and Venice had Vinyan," writes Richard Corliss. "[T]his film is nuts. We emerged into the Venice sunshine happy to be out of this jungle of implausibilites."

Update, 9/9: "Vinyan is both poetical and political; those who take it literally are bound to get a little stuck with the film," writes Kurt Halfyard at Twitch. "Taken as a visceral meditation, it is a sublime success."

Posted by dwhudson at September 3, 2008 9:46 AM