Having debuted at Glasgow Film Festival on 3 March, Harvest is Athina Rachel Tsangari’s attempt at an immersive Scottish folktale.
Not every film needs a tense plot to engage the viewer. Sometimes, a stunning presentation and a set of impressive performances are enough to elevate a sparse story into an enveloping experience. Unfortunately, despite its strengths, Harvest is not one of those films.
Described as a Scottish folk horror, the film revolves around Walter Thirsk (Caleb Landry Jones), a farmer in an unnamed rural village whose life devolves into chaos when the lord of the manor’s cousin arrives to turn the rural estate into profitable farmland. The film draws many parallels to the Highland Clearances, with the selfish mob of Englishmen racing north to claim the Scottish territory as their own. Though the synopsis lays the groundwork for an engaging tale, Harvest is far from thrilling.
The film begins with a montage of Walter in the wilderness, chomping bark off trees, rolling in the tall grasses, and swimming nude in the lake. The claustrophobic camera work mirrors Thirsk’s closeness to nature, highlighting his near-disturbing obsession with the world around him. The opening instantly draws the viewer in, but afterwards, the film loses all momentum. It takes almost half the runtime for the tension to build, and once it does, it devolves from the immersive sensory experience of its opening into a drab, run-of-the-mill thriller lacking in all respects.
Caleb Landry Jones offers a muted performance, numb to the world around him as he is berated, beaten, and betrayed. Harry Melling plays Master Kent, but his Scottish accent is far from perfect, breaking the illusion for the audience. For every decent performance, there is a lacklustre one to undercut the experience. Unnatural dialogue and underwhelming line delivery plague every moment. Master Jordan (Frank Dillane) is the cartoonish and over-animated antagonist whose mannerisms tarnish the grim tone of the film.
With its opening, Harvest immerses the viewer in a different world. However, it is not long before the cracks start to show, and the audience is pulled out of the experience. With occasionally hammy performances, a script in dire need of redrafting, and an unjustifiable runtime, Harvest is deeply flawed, and its bare story makes those issues all the more apparent.
My name is Evan (he/him). I am currently studying English and journalism at Strathclyde University, and regularly host a show as part of the Fusion Radio society. Outside of Strath, I write novels and run Doombox Music, a music journalism website where I write weekly reviews and conduct interviews with up-and-coming musicians.
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