The Feast

CinemaSerfAug 2022

2.5

We get a clue from the opening, vaguely homo-erotic, scene that this is a rather dysfunctional family that is living in a recently constructed eco-style house in rural Wales. One brother "Gweirydd" (Sion Alun Davies) is clad in his triathlon lycra and "entertaining himself" whilst his brother "Guto" (Steffan Cennydd) watches him through his window... Then the latter heads to the gate to meet "Cadi" (Annes Elwy), a local girl seconded by his mother to help out at a dinner party she is hosting. It seems this family made a killing selling mineral licences to a company run by the rather odious "Euros" (Rhodri Meilir) and the purpose of the lavish dinner is to convince their neighbour "Mair" (Lisa Palfrey) to allow the same on her property. The blade falls off the axe "Guto" is using to chop wood - injuring his foot, and that is just the first in an increasingly bizarre series of mishaps that befall the ensemble, and pretty quickly we discover that "Cadi" (who has virtually no dialogue) is not quite what she seems... What now ensues is a "feast" that would put you off food for the rest of your life. It's quite gory and the visual effects are actually quite good for what must have been a modestly funded exercise. Thing is, the acting is not really that great and once the penny has dropped the plot becomes rather clumsily allegorical. Mixing mythology with "planet pillaging" and elements of the seven deadly sins to provide for an ending that is all rather messy - in just about every sense. It's a film for television that might work OK on a dark wintry evening.