A Field in England (2013) or, Shit and Thistles

♥♥

 

One of the fashionably psychedelic posters for Ben Wheatley's A Field in England, which prominently features Martin Scorsese's head-scratching endorsement of the film

A small group of men desert the civil war battles in the English countryside in the 17th century and head for a mysterious ale bar under the influence of, among other things, mushrooms, bad digestion and hatred among themselves.

A Field in England begins well and is certainly merry in a gross, expletive-fraught, English manner, although after 45 minutes it feels like an exercise in vulgarity and little else. (SPOILER Among other things, we are treated to one character pissing on two others, who are in a hole, whereupon one of them is shot by accident in the subsequent quarrel.)
The plot does not gain interest or thrills along the way; it just gets weirder, revolving around a symbolic black hole (death, very likely.) Some of the lengthily drawn out shots, such as one of the shooting of a foot, feels in the context of the mystery-loving Field in England as borderline (if not just plain) pretentious. The sufferings, mystery, cursing and vulgarity isn't the mere surface of anything deep or poignant, as it may give the impression of in this disappointing 4th theatrical feature from great English director Ben Wheatley (Kill List (2011)). It is written by Amy Jump (High-Rise (2015)).

Related posts:

Ben Wheatley: 2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
Kill List (2011) - Wheatley's jaw-breaking, great genre-mixer

 

One of the film's executive producers is interviewed here about the alternative release strategy of the film

 

Cost: 316k £, equal to approximately 390k $

Box office: 64k $

= Mega-flop

[A Field in England was released simultaneously in British cinemas, as VoD, home video and on Film4 on July 5, and it runs 91 minutes. Filming lasted just 12 days in September 2012 in England. The simultaneous release strategy for the film was reportedly the first time this was attempted in the UK with an English film. The film opened #63 in 13 theaters to a dismal 9k $ first weekend in North America, where it only went down from there and grossed 32k $. The film's other market grosses are not public, and the 64k $ total gross is what's presented on its Wikipedia. Only based on the theatrical gross, - which is what is always done on this website, - the film is a mega-flop. A Field in England is certified fresh at 87 % with a 7.2 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of A Field in England?