- guardian.co.uk, Wednesday October 31 2007 00.10 GMT
Many people were dismayed to see bright young British director Asif Kapadia follow up his Bafta-winning Indian tale The Warrior with a generic Hollywood horror film starring Sarah Michelle Gellar. This is reassuring proof that he has not sold out - or is at least operating on the "one for them, one for me" principle.
Far North feels more like a genuine successor to The Warrior, with a similar level of visual and aural craftsmanship, a tendency to let the landscape do most of the talking, and a parable-like quality that is apparent from the outset, as Michelle Yeoh's voiceover recounts how a shaman told her she would bring harm to those who got close to her. As the title suggests, we are inside the Arctic Circle, with spectacular locations everywhere the camera looks. Yeoh and her daughter appear to be the remnants of a nomadic reindeer-herding tribe, on the run from plundering settlers. Camping alone on the tundra, they stumble upon a starving, escaped soldier (Sean Bean) whom, against Yeoh's better judgment, she takes in.
As Bean works his charm on both mother and daughter, flashbacks explain how they came to be in this situation (and how accurate the shaman's prophecy turns out to be). Sexual tension charges the atmosphere, recurring motifs pile up, and the situation approaches a critical point.
The climax is shocking and unpredictable, and yet there is a feeling that the story has not built up enough tension to pull it off. Perhaps it is down to the tricky fusion of committed realism and fantastical narrative - a combination that The Fast Runner and indeed The Warrior achieved more successfully. A pity, considering how much this film gets right, how many unforgettable images it provides, and how difficult it must have been to make.
· At Rich Mix today. Box office: 020-7928 3232.
