Tockinit not horrible nor great

Aedonerre I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

magnuslhad Scotland is a beautiful country, a staggeringly dramatic landscape that easily lends itself to cinema. Unfortunately, a film requires more than scenery, a point that is lost on the makers of Shell. A young woman lives an isolated life in a stark, barren setting, alone with her taciturn father. The male customers who visit her petrol station desire her. Women are suspicious of her. Shell seems over-attached to her father. What it all means and adds up to is anyone's guess. Films which throw up more questions than answers can be rewarding - such as Under the Skin, which makes better thematic use of a similar landscape. However, there has to be a glimpse of narrative coherence, a hint that more rewards are waiting if we make the effort to see beyond the surface. Sadly, Shell's waters run shallow in the extreme. Chloe Pirrie creates an atmosphere as brooding Shell, but the character does not grow or change. Joseph Mawle as the father evokes no familial bond. Rather than a father battling mental demons, I saw a bewildered actor. And Michael Smiley, so sinister and captivating in Kill List, is badly served by a script that eschews any attempt at character development. This film fails on multiple levels.

paul2001sw-1 There are still places in the far north west of Scotland where you can drive for miles and scarcely see a house, with vast uninhabited moors between the roads, but for the most part, life in these parts is a story of small, remote communities that are communities nonetheless. Scott Graham's film takes us to lonelier place, however, the story of a young woman living an unhealthily close life with her needy, epileptic father: this might not be a normal life even in the highlands, but this a certainly a place where the daily practice of separation from others could lead to emotional isolation. The film follows the maxim of "show don't tell", which is often a good one; but here we only see a bleak portrait of empty lives, with exemplary incidents but little narrative: it's almost impossible to judge anyone as "good", "bad", or even "likeable" this far outside the normal physical and moral terrain. It's not an awful film, but a dash of something - humour, plot, malice - would not have gone amiss.

tombsoft I recorded this not knowing what it was about, then set down to watch it 3 months later. As the movie progressed, clearly slower than most action movies, my curiosity and expectation turned into a growing sense of awkwardness as the scenes unfolded. A young woman unaware of - or grappling with her own sexuality becomes the focus of male urges in forbidden, fleeting or equally desperate desires. The location of desolate isolation intensifies the storyline of her yearning to break free from her roadside, family-tied prison-without-walls young life, and the pace becomes irrelevant or perhaps magnetizing. Genuine tension fills the air with each customer visit with growing concern of the outcome. This movie is a triumph in awkwardness. Well done Director.

billcr12 Shell is a seventeen year-old girl living with her father at a gas station in Scotland in the middle of nowhere. He sells old cars for scrap metal, while she pumps gas and cooks and cleans, much as a wife would do. Apparently, her mother headed for greener pastures and left dad and his daughter to fend for themselves. The movie drags on for an hour and a half, with no sense of humor or life to speak of. The almost incestuous overtone is creepy, as is some guy with a BMW who gives Shell a pair of expensive jeans for obvious reasons. The lead actress is very ordinary looking and her father seems to be the unhappiest man on earth. The two combine for an extremely depressing and meaningless drama which I cannot recommend for any reason. The one positive note is the beautiful Scottish countryside.