The Souvenir Part II (2021)

Directed by Joanna Hogg. Starring Honor Swinton Byrne, Ariane Labed, Harris Dickinson, Tilda Swinton, Jaygann Ayeh, Richard Ayoade, Charlie Heaton, Joe Alwyn, James Spencer Ashworth, Barbara Pierson, James Dodds, Gala Botero. [R]

Following his fatal heroin overdose, the stain of Swinton Byrne’s ex-lover lingers on her psyche, and her search for answers and reasoning (and her subconscious need to exorcise a few demons) leads her to develop a confused student film without approval from the school board. Less fully-realized and singularly-compelling than its predecessor, this continuation to The Souvenir is more of a lengthy epilogue than a second chapter, stunted by the protagonist’s inability to separate herself from the recently-suffered abuse and tragedy. Swinton Byrne hasn’t lost the touch, and there are many compelling and insightful vignettes here that deepen the impressions left by the suffocating toxicity of the terminated relationship, but writer/director Hogg doesn’t quite possess the same firm grasp on tone and kitchen-sink storytelling—it’s looser, funnier, more ambitious, but also messier and less certain. There’s a mournful and ruminative undercurrent to the film student’s coming-of-age-style emotional journey; it’s not always clear if the artificially-staged “filmed performance” bits are meant to be pretentiously clever or cleverly pretentious—or if the aspiring filmmaker’s lack of precise vision and confidence is supposed to make these presentations awkward—but they clash with the film’s prevailing tone even more so than the occasional offbeat episode (those squeamish of menstruation best be warned in advance). By the end, however, the sum of the therapeutic discoveries outweigh the inconsistencies, and most viewers would be ready—if not exactly ecstatic—to see a third chapter in this complicated character’s life.

77/100