SHEPHERD
Directed by: Russell Owen
Starring: Tom Hughes, Kate Dickie, Greta Scaachi, Gaia Weiss, Janie Marie Leary
Following the tragic death of his wife, Eric Black takes on a job as a shepherd on a desolate Scottish Island. However it isn't long before the loneliness and ghosts from his past start to play with his sanity…
Shepherd is a film which builds a terrific atmosphere of dread and isolation but it seems to be built upon some very shaky foundations.
Whilst in a malaise following his wife's funeral, Eric Black finds a job vacancy in a newspaper for a shepherd on an uninhabited island off the coast of Scotland. Surprisingly there aren't any other takers and he gets the job. As he is transported across the sea, we meet Fisher, the ferrywoman and only contact he will have to civilisation. She outlines what is ahead of him - 900 sheep and a rundown cottage.
One of the big plus points for Shepherd is the wonderful locations. I'm personally drawn to such desolate and starkly beautiful landscapes and this film has them in spades. The same can be said of the bay, with its lighthouse, which the cottage overlooks. The film also gets good mileage out of the sheep, whose alien-like eyes sometimes fill the screen.
Unfortunately for Eric he's got his work cut out for him as there are numerous repairs to be done and a rickety staircase to the upper floor which exposes his fear of heights. However not only is there hard physical labour to be done, he is also seeing things, such as a mysterious woman in black….
The death of his wife also plays on his mind a lot - this is completely understandable due to the memories still being fresh and there not being much on the island to distract him from his thoughts .However, we learn clues which suggest her death might not have been what was perceived.
Shepherd is very obtuse and reluctant to divulge what is actually happening. There is a key question early on when Fisher asks Erick how he got in this position, this job, and her actions late on emphasise the point that she might not be what she appears. However the concept that is laid out doesn’t make a lot of sense, or logic, unless you accept that Eric himself is an unreliable witness to what is happening around him.
THE VERDICT
There is a lot to like here - the desolate landscapes are beautifully shot, the acting is very good (Tom Hughes has to do a lot of heavy lifting as he is the only person on screen for long stretches). However the supernatural element to the film switches from being a "Woman in Black" scenario to something more internal and the two just don't seem to marry up as well as you'd hope.