Under Milk Wood - the film (2015)

This new film of Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood got it's world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film festival last Saturday.

This prose poem watches the inhabitants of a small coastal village in Wales over the course of a day. Starting by observing their dreams it follows them through their days of gossip, work, friendships, rivalries and lusts.

The village is dominated by the sea, from the daily tides through old Captain Cat's dreams of his seafaring days. The visuals lend almost equal weight to the sea and its creatures as they do to the lives and desires of the villagers.

It's an impressionistic and bawdy interpretation of this classic piece of Welsh literature, the dreamlike cinematography matching the mood of the words perfectly, even as the two often don't match precisely in detail.

A Welsh language version of this film has also been made.

The film will be getting general release into UK cinemas on 27 October to mark Dylan Thomas' centenary.

Under Milk Wood film website.

You can read my other reviews from the film festival by following the links below:

Brand New U - futuristic thriller /  love story 

 Of Chickens and Camels - a review of Chicken (a wonderful coming of age film about a teenager with learning difficultie) and Nearby Sky (a documentary about the camel beauty contests in the Emirates). 

Infini - disaster on an off-planet mine

La Tirisia - love and life in the cacti covered mountains of Mexico

When Elephants Fight - conflict minerals in Congo

 Iron Ministry - a cinematic journey through China by rail

 Index Zero - dystopian SF set in a future Fortress Europe

30 Days Wild goes to the cinema - how the landscape backdrops two films set in very different countries (Sand Dollars and The Gulls) 

Disclaimer - I have a press pass for the film festival and attended a free press screening of this film.

As ever, red text contains hyperlinks which take you to other webpages where you can find out more.