In the debut feature film from British writer-director Bryn Chaney, he uses Celtic folklore and the intimacy of sound to reveal a darkness that some may find difficult to express in words.
Its events take place in 1973, Rabbit trap Stars Dev Patel and Rosy McEwen as Darcy and Daphne, an influential musical couple from London who take refuge in an isolated cottage in the Welsh countryside to finish their next album. But when Darcy records a sound not intended for human ears, he mistakenly conjures ancient mysterious creatures from the forest.
Best viewed in Dolby, the film uses hypnotic sounds in every scene, largely through field recordings Darcy made in the surrounding forest. In addition to the sounds of dripping water, the sounds of metal and the grinding of grass, Darcy demonstrates the sacredness of the medium as he explains that “the sound is a ghost… and your body is the house it inhabits.”
After recording strange noises in the woods, Darcy returns the recordings to Daphne, who is soon seduced and driven to a “wonderful” creative feat. The cosmic intensity of composer Lucrezia Dalt’s music and Graham Resnick’s sound design immerses the audience in Daphne’s chaotic creative process, as well as her romantic relationship with Darcy, with one sex scene set to mock music sounding like an exhilarating acid trip.
But sound is also used to express the darkness within you. While Darcy suffers from sleep paralysis, Daphne records him talking in his sleep, giving words to the darkness he cannot face while awake. Although there are some words they still can’t say out loud to each other, voice is used to emphasize their connection while Patel and McEwen’s visceral physical performances do the rest.
With their new discovery pulling them out of their creative rut, the couple is visited by an unknown child (Jade Crute) who is drawn to their music. By educating them about local folklore, as well as his love of hunting rabbits, the strange child soon wins over the couple.
Crute’s performance as the mysterious young man provides a range of emotions for Patel and McEwen to play upon, with a natural fatherly empathy building through their dynamic, offset by a growing fear. The trio navigates the emotional heft of the story with a precise synchronicity that peels away the layers of trauma brewing within Darcy’s subconscious, threatening to drag Daphne’s creative spirit down with it.
Following Patel’s directorial debut last year Monkey manthe multi-hyphenate actor seems to be paying it forward with Chaney’s debut, delivering a raw, emotional performance that matches the deep, dark well of the emerging auteur’s imagination.
Producers are Lawrence Inglis, Daniel Noah, Elijah Wood, Elisa Lleras, Adrian Politowski and Martin Metz.
address: Rabbit trap
to divide: Sundance (Midnight)
Sales agent: CAA, Bankside Films
exit: Brian Cheney
screenwriter: Brian Cheney
ejaculate: Dev Patel, Rosie McEwen and Jade Crute
Operating time: 97 minutes
