RAINDANCE 2024 | Movie Review: "The Heirloom" Is Simple Yet Satisfying Cinema
10/12 ForReel Score | 4/5 Stars
The Heirloom is indie filmmaking at its very best. It’s small and concise, but razor sharp and thoroughly entertaining, and the strength of the two central performances alone ensures that The Heirloom delights and entertains from beginning to end. It tells the tale of a lockdown-bound pair who make the decision to adopt a dog; disruption ensues.
The film is almost entirely a two-hander between writer, director, and editor Ben Petrie, and his real-life wife Grace Glowicki. But unlike many cinematic two-handers which primarily take place in a single location, it never feels play-like. It's a film which knows it's a film, and plays with the form accordingly. It affirms the pair as two of the most exciting presences on the indie-movie scene both in front of and behind the camera; their next project is sure to be as exciting as this one.
According to Petrie, the script of The Heirloom was loose, if present at all. Petrie and Glowicki improvised their way through the film's plot, expertly and hilariously slinging zinger after zinger at each other as the plot develops, the film's story being primarily inspired by real-life events. Their relationship is searingly real, complete with infectious chemistry and burning insults. It blurs the boundary between reality and fiction, between performance and actuality, but regardless of their process, the result is marvellously satisfying. The film's strongest scenes are the ones in which our two characters simply talk to each other. The camera typically remains still, focused and steady on our leads, the excitement and drama and humour erupting purely from the central performances.
The Heirloom features the best performance by a dog since Anatomy Of A Fall. Somehow, Minnie communicates a gentle vulnerability, felt most crushingly during the scenes in which her parents argue. It's almost Kramer Vs Kramer-like, but with a dog - you can’t help but feel for the vulnerable offspring of the sparring parents.
In keeping with the film's factual accuracy, the film is set firmly in Covid-times. It's the looming threat of lockdown which inspires the dog-purchase in the first place, and masks and protocols are very much present. The result is that the 2020-ness of it feels a touch jarring. Equally, there's a film-within-a-film subplot which, although true to life, feels superfluous. The film really needn't be about any more than two funny people adopting a dog; watch to see what happens next. The rest is unnecessary fluffiness.
But The Heirloom is an undoubtedly charming bit of filmmaking, and at 89 brisk minutes, it's as swift and efficient as indie filmmaking can be: it's in your best interest to seek it out.