In a sentenceChris Langham looks as though he would like all this eccentricity to sit down for a minute
Tom Thompson (Chris Langham), Sophie Thompson (Amanda Hadingue) and Blake (Colin Hurley) feature in this suburban comedy about family secrets. The story also includes Eric Sacks (Simon Amstell), Tim Tanaka (Will Sharpe), Katie Thompson (Anna O’Grady) and Jess Thompson (Helen Cripps). Animation and dream sequences accompany the live-action performances, and the comedy makes room for unease and melancholy. Tom Kingsley and Will Sharpe write and direct, with Will Sharpe also appearing in the ensemble. The film runs for 83 minutes and carries a 15 certificate.
Tom Kingsley and Will Sharpe make an affecting, uneven black comedy, held together by Chris Langham’s subdued performance. Some of the eccentricity feels forced, but the sadness beneath the jokes gives us reason to stay.
Black Pond is a good, uneven black comedy whose peculiarities occasionally get in the way of its people. Writers and directors Tom Kingsley and Will Sharpe attempt a difficult mixture: suburban absurdity, dread and sadness, all kept close enough for a laugh to become uncomfortable. They manage it often enough to make the awkward stretches worth accepting. We recommend it to anyone who likes their comedy subdued and slightly troubling, with a warning that some of the oddness feels forced.
Chris Langham gives the film its strongest reason to keep watching. As Tom Thompson, he is subdued without becoming blank, and his vulnerability makes the comedy feel capable of hurting someone. We were moved by how little he presses for sympathy: the tenderness in his performance remains visible even when the film around him is busy being peculiar. There is no need for the writing to announce that sadness matters here, because the performance has made it matter already.
Amanda Hadingue, as Sophie Thompson, and Colin Hurley, as Blake, help to keep that care for the characters intact. We believe in them, and would happily have spent more of the running time in their company. Their performances also make the weaker characterisation elsewhere more noticeable, because they demonstrate how much interest there can be in these people. The directors get good work from their cast when they give them enough room to make an impression.
The animation and dream sequences are a less dependable part of the film. They have imagination, and help the suburban satire become more unsettling, but some feel like additions the comedy could have managed without. The directors do not always distinguish between an image that deepens the unease and one that simply advertises their willingness to try something unusual. When those passages fail, the humour becomes harder to enjoy because we start noticing the effort required to sustain it.
The weaker characterisation is harder to forgive, because the film has already shown how much a careful performance can achieve. Some of the writing seems content to mark someone as peculiar and move on, leaving the actors to supply the interest. We care about certain people while others seem to exist chiefly to keep the comedy going, and that uneven attention limits how much the darker material can trouble us. At 83 minutes, the film could still have exchanged some of its flourishes for a little more time with its characters.
Against the demands of black comedy, though, its willingness to take sadness seriously counts for a good deal. The recognisable hurt in the performances stops the humour becoming a succession of clever ways to be unpleasant. There is enough warmth here to survive the occasional self-consciousness, and enough discomfort to prevent that warmth becoming an easy reassurance. Give it an evening for Chris Langham, provided a few conspicuous misfires will not spoil the pleasure.
Most critics respond warmly to Black Pond’s eccentric black comedy, finding melancholy and unease beneath its suburban satire. The strongest agreement concerns the performances, particularly Chris Langham’s subdued, vulnerable turn. The reviews also praise the script’s ability to be funny, unsettling and poignant without losing its peculiar character. Several welcome the film’s inventiveness, with its dream sequences and animation drawing praise for giving the comedy a stranger, more disturbing edge.
The reservations concern how consistently those choices work. Eye for Film finds the characterisation uneven and some elements contrived, with parts of the animation and a cameo misfiring. Time Out is more restrained about the film’s achievement while still praising Langham’s performance without qualification. The spread therefore runs from enthusiasm to qualified approval, rather than outright disagreement: four reviews are positive and two mixed, with none dismissing the film.
Bradshaw calls the film a haunting, melancholy and strange success. He particularly praises Chris Langham’s tender, vulnerable performance and the film’s eccentric comic flavour.
Read the full review →Felperin calls it one of the strongest British debut features of the year and says it deserves wider exposure. She singles out the well-tuned performances and an unsettling, funny, and poignant script.
Read the full review →The critic calls it a resourceful, original black comedy that makes excellent use of its tiny budget. They praise its blend of suburban satire and horror-movie dread, along with imaginative animations and dream sequences.
Read the full review →The critic gives the film a clearly positive verdict, calling it quirkily inventive and wishing there were more abnormal British films like it. They single out the performances of Chris Langham, Amanda Hadingue and Colin Hurley for praise.
Read the full review →The review suggests the film may not set the world of cinema alight, but gives a positive verdict on Chris Langham’s performance. It singles out his performance as faultless.
Read the full review →The critic finds it an intriguing, idiosyncratic debut, despite uneven characterization and elements that feel contrived. Langham’s subdued performance and the filmmakers’ darkly comic handling of pathos stand out, though some animation and a cameo misfire.
Read the full review →
SightseersFor more uncomfortable laughter from recognisable people behaving with alarming oddness.
Songs from the Second Floor · not on Fi1m yetAn even drier comedy, with human misery arranged for patient inspection.
The Bothersome Man · not on Fi1m yetFor the creeping suspicion that ordinary life has become quietly intolerable.
The LadykillersA more tightly organised black comedy, still attentive to its peculiar people.
A Serious ManFor another subdued man trying to endure an increasingly unreasonable existence.
