Review: The Ferryman (2018)

After a young woman tries to commit suicide, she finds herself haunted by an entity...

The Ferryman is the first film from Elliott Maguire. It was a real labour of love for him as he not only write, produces and directs, but also composed the music and edited the film. It's clear he's put his heart and soul into the film. The question to be asked is, has his effort and devotion paid off?

There is a great deal to admire here. I like the premise, that of an entity that takes the souls of the dead to the other side, punishing those that avoid it by taking others in their place. In ways it's like Carnival Of Souls in it's basic premise and also in another way it is like a twisted take on A Matter Of Life And Death.

The credits state the film was shot on an iPhone 7. That being the case, the camera on that phone is something else, as the film is certainly well shot. Maguire knows how to stage his scenes well and at times does bring a sense of unease.

He also, perhaps wisely, limits the entity screen time. We mostly see it in the background or behind a window and only at the end do we really see it. It adds to the unease, keeping it off screen, though perhaps this could have been due to budget constraints.

It's a very low budgeted film, using a small cast, and only a handful of locations. I got the feeling watching it, that Maguire in writing had ambitions with his story that as director he couldn't quite pull off due to the lack of budget. I do think though the film is well directed.

However, in trying to do everything, his own judgement perhaps needed a second opinion. I did find some of the sound effects didn't work well and there were moments when the dialogue seemed to fade away, though as I was watching on my laptop, perhaps this was to blame for that. Some scenes perhaps needed a bit of editing too.

His cast are pretty good. Nicola Holt plays Mara, the young woman at the heart of the story and is not bad in the role as is Garth Maunders as Roland, her father, though he does look too young for the role. The scenes between the two are done very well indeed. Of the rest of the cast, none really get the chance to really make an impact.

From a writing point of view, Maguire does make a couple of interesting decisions, such as the father/daughter relationship. I suppose it could have been tempting to make it a couple instead, but that dynamic adds a different emotional heart to the film. He also has a couple of plot contrivances, such as a comment made by one character partly recognised by another because of a job years before.

Because of the budget, the film doesn't have what you might call a big climax to its story and I'm not sure some elements of the ending shot actually work. That being said, the very end of the film, the final moments give it a haunting and quietly devastating ending.

The Ferryman is a flawed film, where I do feel the budget has hampered Elliott Maguire's intentions with his story. But, that being said, he's made an interesting film, that if you can look past the limitations will find one worth taking a look at.

Rating: 2.5/5