| RATING: | 80% |
| FORMAT: | DVD |
This mixes the supernatural with the burgeoning sexuality of the three teenagers involved. It lards teaspoonfuls of surreal humor and a keen and subtle analysis of British social snobbery into its spooky narrative.
Moody, low angle camera setups and the use of wide angle helps create the necessary tone of the exasperations, discomforts and rages of the physical and emotional changes of puberty. This all expresses itself within the context of the darker aspects of Welsh folklore.
Moreover, there are the difficulties of finding oneself again, after having achieved childhood self confidence. In addition, the fear of parental wrath that comes with the desire to break away from such authority (along with the concomitant implied ingratitude) to discover a newer, more mature self. It becomes clear that it is not so much the ghosts of murdered lovers past haunting this valley but the living and their unsettled and unsettling emotions.
Linked by the strange device of a second (step-)mother – on her honeymoon – whom we never see, this story becomes a look at the relationships between, within and across the generations regarding sexual love. This is the author’s way of showing how the present links to a past that seems dead but is, in fact, very much alive – perhaps in a collective unconscious. So much so, that we seem trapped by the past that it becomes a deadweight progressively holding us down unless we see it for what it is, accept our destiny and move on.
The acting styles collide somewhat and Gillian HILLS, in particular, is perfect as the pouty, hysterical and often sulky schoolgirl dressed in color-coded red for a passionate nature clothing.
The only real problem with this series is that it is at least one episode too long. However, the fact that it was shot on location manages to invoke the very sprit of place that is inherent in the storyline; infecting the audience every bit as much as the characters.
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