One of Villeneuve's best

Rating: 10/10 (18 April 2019)

This film begins with a simple and captivating concept- a Mother dies, leaving some strange requests in her will about finding a lost brother and Father, which her twin son and daughter were not aware existed.
From the very first scene you can't help but be pulled in by the mystery behind the past of this woman. Through a series of flashbacks involving the Mother, we learn about her dark past as the twins try to unravel this last request their Mother left them.
This film is defiantly one of Denis' more dark and serious films. A lot like the film 'Prisoners' Denis would go on to make in 2013, Incendies is about the love that a parent has for her children, and the lengths she will go to protect them. Visually, this film is very saturated in shots of war zones, turmoil and Iranian landscapes. Each tense scene that takes place within Iran is as shocking and new for the audience as it is for the children. Obviously, with this being one of Denis' first films, he has a passion for making sound a big part of his films, as he displays in later films like Arrival, Blade Runner and Sicario. Every threatening sound comes across as quite jarring and real, only adding to the incredible sense of hostility he builds between the main characters and the antagonists. The biggest thing I can appreciate about this film is the way Denis does not underestimate or patronise his audience. He very carefully feeds you segments of the narrative so you can fully build it up in your head, but does not make it stupidly obvious. This is also his most political film, and although you don't need to know much about the conflicts in Iran in the 70s, it really adds to the depth and tone of the story, complimenting it very nicely. There were plenty of moments throughout this film that left me shocked and in awe at how visceral and surprising they were. So far, I haven't seen a Denis Villeneuve film that I haven't appreciated in one form or another, and he will definitely go down as one of the great directors in modern cinema history.