The Group – Review
The Group, written and directed by William Higo (Nsfl, World of Death), is a taut, character-driven psychological thriller that explores trauma, survivor guilt, and redemption.
Set pretty much entirely inside a fairly typical, grim British community centre the film centres on a support group for addicts, who find themselves at the mercy of a gunman with a vendetta.
The gunman uses each members past as a way to get them to face their wrongdoings and tensions rise as secrets come to the surface. It leaves us questioning who he is as well as who they are.
The film starts strongly, tension is built almost immediately with some decent performances from the ensemble cast. For me, Evangelina Burton as Kara comes across most consistently with a mix of vulnerability and strength that sets her up as the welcome protagonist . The confined setting—a dingy community centre where the support group meets in the standard, community centre chair in a circle fashion, adds to the film’s claustrophobic atmosphere, enhancing the tension as secrets are revealed and relationships are tested. You really do get a sense of there being nowhere to run.
I feel the Britishness of the film comes across a little to its detriment as time progresses. There’s no explanations for certain aspects and some character development, which is evidently well done for some, is sadly lacking in other perhaps more important, characters. The single location, while helping to build tension and make the first half of the film feel evenly paced, leads to a sluggish second half. The story doesn’t have much breathing room, leading to everything being told not shown and it gives a feeling of a Bottle Episode without next week’s show to save it.
However, the first half really is gripping, filled with sharp dialogue and well-paced tension. Some of the characters are a little brusque (again maybe it’s the British thing) and the group leader has scant regard for security, but otherwise…
So, despite a few pacing issues and a couple of small scripting flaws, The Group succeeds in delivering a thought-provoking film. It’s a slow burner, it’s a bit grim and may leave you with more questions than it answers but isn’t that what the best character focused Thrillers do?
You can check out The Group from 2nd Sept 2024 from Reel 2 Reel Films
