We are creatures of habit – and communication can be either be simplified or complicated. Such is the conundrum facing two relative strangers in writer/director Joseph Millson‘s holiday drama SIGNS OF LIFE.
Anne (Sarah-Jane Potts) is not deaf or mute, she just chooses not to communicate vocally, a trait that finds itself manifesting in majorly troubled ways when she decides to take a cheap holiday to an exotic location. Her first villa is tainted by an intimidating, unsympathetic male neighbour – out to have a laugh and a one-night stand perhaps? – which forces her to sleep on the beach and best available bench.
Into her line of vision comes Bill (David Ganly), ageing and desperate with a fractured relationship with his partner and children, of which the latter were supposed to be joining him at a holiday villa which he has rented. Sensing Anne’s own predicament, Bill offers the villa to her as a token of kindness in light of him making a flight out of there. The pair try to shed some light – and perhaps some of their respective pain – as they co-habitate….
Touching, occasionally humorous, analysis of the virtue and non-virtue of communication in a world that never fails to be complicated for the simplest of reasons. Potts is exceptional as a woman who is trying hard to break out of her psychological containment in a performance that recalls Marlee Matlin‘s Oscar-winning turn in CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD (1986). Ganly is more than her equal as a troubled man trying to balance his own emotional challenges with essential family needs.
Director Millson attempts to go deeper with the key themes, which are complimented by some strong visual holiday locations and tone.
SIGNS OF LIFE plays as part of the London Independent Film Festival 2025, which runs from 4th – 13th April 2025.
Tickets available at: https://www.genesiscinema.co.uk/whatson/events