The Feast (2021) Review

A veteran director of household name TV series (Doctor Who, Casualty, Vera) Lee Haven Jones makes his feature debut with an ambitious eco-folk horror. For a taste of what to expect, imagine Michael Haneke, Ben Wheatley and Peter Greenaway concocting a movie idea over three gourmet courses.

Local MP’s wife Glenda (Nia Roberts) is throwing a dinner party to drum up trade for the family’s business advisor Euros (Rhodri Meilir). Chiefly, persuading farm owning neighbour Mair (Lisa Palfrey) to sign a lucrative deal to mine on her land. Joining Glenda in this charm offensive is her venal politician husband Gwyn (Julian Lewis Jones). Hindering matters are their sons, burn-out Guto (Steffan Cennydd) and creepy fitness freak Gweirydd (Sion Alun Davies).

There to make Glenda’s life easier is local barmaid turned waitress for the night Cadi (Annes Elwy). Although Cadi’s behaviour, bouncing between bemusement, discomfort and apparent terror also suggests the evening may not run as planned.

Presented entirely in the Welsh language, The Feast has an irresistibly European feel to its disquieting atmosphere. Assisted by Norwegian cinematographer Bjørn Ståle Bratberg, director Jones’s visuals shift between cool detachment and bursts of up-close-and-personal weirdness. Often using the furthest edges of the widescreen frame, his is a world off-balance way before the mayhem erupts. Some audiences may find the film’s subtitled dialogue and archly modernist style strongly flavoured. To them we say, acquire the taste. For there is rich stuff to chew on here.

Well-played by the cast, the family seethe with resentment and recrimination in their spacious but sterile minimalist abode. Meanwhile, the surrounding countryside makes a foreboding backdrop to third act meaty horror and nasty EC comics style comeuppance. Unlikely then that the Welsh tourist board will be chasing Jones for ad campaigns any time soon.

But, like Bunuel’s The Exterminating Angel or Karyn Kusama’s The Invitation, black humour flows through writer Roger Williams’ script. Compliments then to both Jones and Williams that the film balances its various flavours. The comedy of embarrassment, class cold war, local legends, and the perils of final stage capitalism dance a tango on the palate. Although in telling his story, Jones sloshes so may fluids onto the screen you’ll likely have a thirst-on come the closing credits.

To dive too deep into the film’s genre-blending would spoil the surprises. But The Feast could be well paired with Unearth, John C. Lyons and Dorota Swies’ fracking-themed horror that too whips social commentary and gruesome horror into a zesty concoction. Moreover, along with Ryan Andrew Hooper’s The Toll and Will Jewell’s Concrete Plans, this is another example of the vibrant new cinema emerging from the valleys.

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