Film Review: Lola is a terrifically inventive low-budget sci-fi
Stefanie Martini & Rory Fleck Byrne in LOLA.
- Lola
- ★★★★☆
Opening in 1939, and set in a crumbling old country house in Sussex, (15A) is an off-beat but intriguing sci-fi that revolves around two sisters, the wine-swilling bohemians Martha (Stefanie Martini) and Thom (Emma Appleton), who have invented a machine (‘LOLA’) that allows them to intercept radio and TV broadcasts from the future.
Early glimpses of Bob Dylan, The Kinks, and David Bowie are an unexpected bonus, but when the Battle of Britain begins in 1940, LOLA really starts to prove its worth, providing information about future Luftwaffe bombings that allow Thom and Martha to save lives by broadcasting advance warnings. Soon, however, British Intelligence in the shape of Major Sebastian (Rory Fleck Byrne) is searching for LOLA, which is when the story — and history itself — takes a very dark turn…
Written by Andrew Legge and Angeli Macfarlane, with Legge directing, is a terrifically inventive low-budget sci-fi. The conceit is that the film is composed of black-and-white found footage of the home movies shot by the technically brilliant Thom and Martha, much of which was filmed on period cameras to create an authentically aged, grainy effect, with the narrative interwoven with mocked-up Pathé-like newsreels.
Not content with that, Legge and Macfarlane push the story into the realms of alternative history, although the political ramifications are less important than the personal — we understand, as Martha solemnly narrates her found footage film, that Thom is guilty of a betrayal that only the reversal of time itself can redeem.
Sharply observed, imaginative and cleverly executed, is the kind of low-key sci-fi film that knocks its flashy, big-budget peers into a cocked hat.
(cinema release)
