Film review: Welsh language film 'Effi o Blaenau' features a terrific lead performance
Leisa Gwenllian as Effi in 'Effi o Blaenau'
★★★★☆
Based on the one-woman play Iphigenia in Splott by Welsh playwright Gary Owen, (Cert: None) is set in Wales and performed in Welsh, a language still rarely heard in cinema.
Leisa Gwenllian plays Effi, a young woman living in a working-class area of North Wales. She lives with her best friend, Leanne (Nel Rhys Lewis). The pair party hard, spending every spare penny on cheap vodka and nights out. Effi also has a casual, no-strings- attached relationship with Kev (Owen Alun), who harbours deeper feelings for her than she will ever return.
Raised by a grandmother (Carys Gwilym) who disapproves of her lifestyle, Effi has little in the way of family support. During a night out, she meets Lee (Tom Rhys Harries), a veteran soldier. After they spend the night together, Effi believes their relationship could be more than a one-night stand. But life rarely goes according to plan, and the course of her future changes in ways she never expected.
Effi discovers she is pregnant. As the reasons behind Lee’s absence become clear, she is left to navigate the pregnancy alone, finding unexpected support from her grandmother.
Gwenllian delivers a terrific, intense performance. As her first leading role, it marks her out as a performer with a promising future ahead. Directed by Marc Evans, the film takes a Ken Loach-style approach to examining the everyday lives of communities facing hardship. A solid and affecting piece of cinema.
- Cinematic release
