Barbarians (2021 film): Difference between revisions

Barbarians is a 2021 British thriller film written and directed by Charles Dorfman and starring Iwan Rheon, Tom Cullen, Catalina Sandino Moreno, and Inès Spiridonov.^[1] It follows a group of four at a dinner party which is derailed by masked invaders.

Plot summary

A video is shown advertising a property the "Gateway" property, named after the nearby Gaeta stone – known as a sacred site to historical druids.

Going on a morning jog on his birthday, Adam, the current leaseholder of Gateway, comes across a wounded fox snared in barbed wire. He attempts to free the fox, but backs off when the animal hisses at him before resuming his jog. Returning home some time later while his girlfriend Eva works on a large replica Gaeta stone in the property courtyard, Adam discovers the dying fox in his kitchen. Eva and worker Dan come inside and, after expressing horror at the sight of the animal, Dan quickly euthanases it.

Meanwhile, Lucas (the owner of Gateway and presenter of the advertisement) and girlfriend Chloe drive to the Gateway property to celebrate Adam's birthday. While on the way, they stop at the Gaeta stone as a

Lucas and Chloe arrive at the property, and Eva takes Chloe to her art studio after learning of the latter's interest. Eva remarks that her largely dark and disturbing art has been focused towards pagan imagery since her move to Gateway. At the same time, Lucas gifts Adam a mysterious drug contained in an

The invaders take Adam, Lucas, and Eva hostage while Chloe drives off, but is run off the road by another masked individual who takes her hostage with the rest of the group. The bird-masked invader, seemingly the leader of the group, performatively vandalizes the house before seating Lucas in a chair and dousing him in blood. Lucas is forced to read a confession letter in the style of his advertisement for Gateway, but shortly after begins to suffer from a bad trip and is able to break free from his restraints, killing the bird-masked invader. One invader chases Lucas outside while the other is overpowered and is revealed to be Dan. Lucas is overpowered and killed by his assailant Neil, who reveals that the invaders are the sons of Alan Wickes, and that they blame Lucas for their fathers death and the loss of their family property.

Adam convinces the two invaders that he will sign the property to them. A conflict ensues in which Chloe stabs Dan who shoots her in retaliation - killing her. Eva and Neil fight before Adam tackles him out of a window, seemingly killing them both. Eva peruses Dan but is unable to bring herself to kill him. Adam is revealed to be alive, and decisively kills Dan with a captive bolt pistol before embracing with Eva.

Cast

• Iwan Rheon as Adam
• Catalina Sandino Moreno as Eva
• Tom Cullen as Lucas
• Inès Spiridonov as Chloe
• Connor Swindells as Dan
• Tommy McDonnell as Neil
• Will Kemp as John

Production

The vast majority of the film was filmed at a single house in rural England.^[2] Writer and director Charles Dorfman stated that he started the film as "a project he could film in his flat",^[3] and that while writing the film he was interested in exploring "The masks we wear socially... and who we are when they come off".^[4]

Release

Barbarians premiered during the Fantastic Film Festival on September 28 2021,^[5][6] and was released in theaters and on-demand on April 1st, 2022 by IFC Midnight.^[7] The film was also shown during the FrightFest film Festival's 2021 Halloween event.^[8]

Reception

Box office

In it's opening weekend, the film earned $7,538 from 41 theaters, for a per screen average of $183.^[9] In its second weekend it dropped to 10 theaters, earning a further $287. Eventually the film attained total box office earnings of $10,742.

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Barbarians holds an approval rating of 56% based on 48 reviews, with an average rating of 5.8/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Sporadically suspenseful, Barbarians is too tonally indecisive to consistently make its most important points".^[10] Metacritic gives the film a weighted average score of 53 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[11]

James Berardinelli of ReelViews left a largely positive review, stating "Dorfman's venture into this familiar milieu is sufficiently well-made to make it worth the time. And, unlike too many recent thrillers, it doesn't overstay its welcome", however he noted "... the characters and their relationships are ill-formed. We get bits and pieces during the first half but much is unrevealed".^[12] Noel Murray of Los Angeles Times wrote "... although Barbarians doesn't have much new to add to the home-invasion genre or much new to say about rich bullies who make even their friends miserable, it really connects for a good, long stretch at the start".^[13] Critic Glenn Kenny writing for RogerEbert.com gave a mixed review, stating "The director carries out his ultimately banal aims with commendable dispatch... But as an individual who's not likely to have his dream house handed to him anytime soon under any circumstances, shady or not, I couldn't relate".^[14]

References