A young film student in the early '80s becomes romantically involved with a complicated and untrustworthy man.... (Full plot summary below)
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A young film student in the early '80s becomes romantically involved with a complicated and untrustworthy man.
Leave your thoughts about The Souvenir.
| Total FilmJamie GrahamA World Cinema Dramatic prize winner at Sundance, Hogg’s best film yet is an instant British classic. |
| Time OutJoshua RothkopfWhile it’s unspooling, The Souvenir feels like the only film in the world—the only one that matters. |
| TheWrapTomris LaffyThe result is the best kind of fine art: heartbreaking, sophisticated and deeply cinematic all at once. |
| IndieWireDavid EhrlichIt may have taken Hogg several decades to realize that her own box of darkness was actually a beautiful gift, but she unwraps it with the care and tenderness of someone who understands its true value. |
| The PlaylistCarlos AguilarSurvived pain arises as both a vehicle for growth and catalyst for the revaluation of one’s impetus in Joanna Hogg’s introspectively awe-inspiring stroke of virtuosity The Souvenir. |
| Screen InternationalFionnuala HalliganThis portrait of the artist as a young film-maker will certainly stand the test of time. |
| VarietyGuy LodgeAchingly well-observed in its study of a young artist inspired, derailed and finally strengthened by a toxic relationship, it is at once the coming-of-age story of many women and a specific creative manifesto for one of modern British cinema’s most singular writer-directors. |
| The New York TimesA.O. ScottThe Souvenir feels like a whispered confidence, an intimate disclosure that shouldn’t be betrayed because it isn’t really yours. |
| San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonThe most passionate love affair in The Souvenir is with film. Hogg utilizes an almost cinema verite style, with a visual look of the grainy kind of 16mm film an ’80s film school student would work with. Her style is reminiscent of early Olivier Assayas or Éric Rohmer’s “The Green Ray” (1986), an acknowledged influence. |
| CineVueLucy PopescuIt’s multi-layered and beautifully observed – as much about the creative process as it is about obsessive love. It’s a glorious affirmation of how experience feeds artistic endeavour. |
