Ruth Paxton’s “A Banquet”

A Banquet (2021)

Some exceptional direction from Paxton and terrific performances fail to save a meandering script which compares unfavourably to Rose Glass’ “Saint Maud” for which it has some striking similarities

With so many terrific British horror in recent years and specifically from female directors such as Rose Glass’ “Saint Maud”, Romolo Garai’s “Amulet”, Prano Bailey Bond’s “Censor” and Charlotte Colbert’s “She Will”, this sits uneasily amongst these though Paxton does show great promise as a director, the script I feel is weighing her down here. The performances she gets out of the multigenerational cast is terrific, but the film itself feels directionless and plays out like a series of dramatic scenes to showcase the actors’ dramatic chops while lacking any real cohesion in tone or narrative.

Sienna Guillory plays Holly Hughes, a middle to upperclass widower with two teenage daughters, one of whom witnessed the grisly death of her father. After having a vision, this daughter stops eating(though never loses weight) and is convinced she is enlightened which leads to a series of events which could be mass psychosis in the household or something supernatural though it’s so directionless, it’s hard to care.

What sits uncomfortably is the inclusion of an eating disorder as a plot device in a film that isn’t quite clear on what it’s trying to say and the conclusion feels forced and unoriginal. When tackling a subject as serious as this, it feels gimmicky when it’s only half-heartedly explored and potentially dangerous too.

Frustratingly, the high calibre of the performances that Paxton gets out of the cast and the nice cinematography from David Liddell is in service to a script that feels derivative and lacking conviction.