YEAR 10 (2024)

3 stars 

Reel2Reel Films. Digital. Out Now

‘It was all over in a day. At first, the living ate the dead. By Year 10, the living ate the living’. So the opening text tells us – simply laying out the context of what follows without filling in anything else. I guess we don’t need to know. Don’t expect the cast to explain anything as you are watching, as the film has no dialogue – did people lose the ability to speak because of what happened?

A drone shot across a large forest – which seems to be the establishing shot of so many films these days. 

A father (Duncan Lacroix) and son (Toby Goodger – some write ups call him Jake but he is credited as son) are walking through said forest. Hunting with a bow and arrow and searching through abandoned vehicles for anything useful. They seem wary – probably due to the packs of wild dogs we hear howling…

They return to their abode built from logs and the like in the forest. Inside is a young woman (Hannah Khalique-Brown), laid up in bed suffering from a wound that doesn’t look too clever. His sister or the son’s partner? Credited as girl. She takes drugs – painkillers or some kind of antibiotic. 

One morning they are attacked by a group who turn out to be the cannibals referenced in the opening titles – the young man and girl cower in their septic tank (as you do) whilst the older man tries to fend off the marauders. However he is overwhelmed and the clan carry his body off – presumably for lunch! 

Returning to their home it has been ransacked, and the last of the drugs were in a backpack that the invaders have taken. He has no choice but to leave her and set off to try and track down the deadly tribe – so he begins to trek through this brutal, brown and muddy world. Will he find the clan? What will he do if he does?

The film is a feature length adaptation of writer/director Ben Goodger’s short film ‘Coming of Age’. 

This is something of a family affair with a committed performance by Toby Goodger. The cinematography captures the bleakness of this future world and with no speech, the narrative is driven by the propulsive music score by Utkucan Eken. While this is well done it’s not exactly a cheery viewing experience. Luke Massy as leader of the cannibals is suitably menacing. 

Steve Kirkham