WOKEN

**

Directed by Alan Friel.

Starring Erin Kellyman, Maxine Peake, Ivanno Jeremiah.

Science-Fiction, Ireland, 90 Minutes, Certificate 15.

Released in the UK On Digital by 101 Films on 25th May

From its opening scene, Alan Friel’s feature debut certainly entices the viewer in with its evocative rugged Irish scenery and leading lady Erin Kellyman running barefoot across a field under a thunderous sky, only to jump off a tall cliff. Like her character, who we soon learn is named Anna, we are as much in the dark as she is due to the fact of the head injury she has suffered from this desperate act. Heavily pregnant and with no memory of how she got here, Anna has to rely on the word of her concerned boyfriend James, Ivanno Jeremiah, and the kindly Helen, Maxine Peake. Stuck on a seemingly remote island, Anna tries to remember exactly how and why she is here and why everyone is so concerned about her unborn baby. Added to these mysteries is the fact that everyone seems to be carrying guns on their person at all times.

Friel does a good job of pulling the viewer into this small, near claustrophobic world. There is a pleasingly windswept, near gothic atmosphere to proceedings as Anna gradually discovers the truth of her situation. Aside from the brief description above, WOKEN is the kind of film that is best experienced knowing as little as possible about it. The revelations pack a punch and for the most part are paced out very well, managing to keep the viewer gripped.

Without going into spoilers it can be said that Anna’s situation eventually carries shades of dystopian fiction. Fans of Margaret Atwood’s classic novel THE HANDMAID’S TALE, and its overstretched TV adaptation may find slightly similar shades of a woman’s right to choose and even autonomy of their own bodies and selves within this small scale tale. 

Low in budget, but big in ideas the film struggles to keep its quiet momentum going with a limp third act. There is a big enticing idea at the heart of all of this, but when everything is revealed, the script, also written by Friel, trudges to an underwritten conclusion filled with half baked action that deflates the tension of everything that has come before. Even one act of violence, considered taboo by many, is reduced in impact, carrying next to no emotional weight or even visceral shock value.

All of this aside, WOKEN is an easy watch. Kellyman, last seen looking very different as one of the more sensible “Jimmies” earlier this year in 28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE continues to prove why she is such an engaging actress, even with such thin material. She is ably supported by Maxine Peake, thankfully using her own accent here after mangling the Scottish one to wild effect in I SWEAR. The wild Irish scenery makes for an effective backdrop for this slight sci-fi mystery that manages to keep its audience gripped for most of its slim running time.

Iain MacLeod