The Nightingale

Kent’s extraordinary craft shines through the world she has recreated, and in her seamless use of magic realism to reveal Clare’s psychological world.

The Nightingale is a refreshing, necessary reminder that sexual violence isn’t just a trendy topic that exists solely in the abstract, but is primarily something experienced which cannot be reduced to a film trope or easily prevented in real life.

Kent’s efforts to subvert genre tropes pay off in a haunting climax that allows Clare to assert her identity and autonomy, without forcing her to stoop to the level of her antagonist.

Acclaimed filmmakers often face the challenge of big expectations on their second features, but Kent joins the ranks of sophomore filmmakers whose new movies expand on their debuts in startlingly ambitious ways.

Somewhat grotesquely jeered at its first Venice press screening, this is violent, hard-graft auteur filmmaking that isn’t out to make friends or play nice, and certainly won’t match The Babadook’s crossover art-genre success with audiences.