The Forgiveness of Blood – review

Eight years ago the American writer-director Joshua Marston made Maria Full of Grace , an exceptionally accomplished movie shot largely in Spanish about a pregnant Colombian peasant girl lured into smuggling cocaine into America. His new film takes us into an even less familiar world, remote rural Albania, where a long-standing feud between two families over a disputed right of way turns nasty. Fleeing from the crime scene, a father goes into hiding, leaving his family struggling to survive, and his 17-year-old son finds himself at the mercy of the other family, who by tradition will kill him if he leaves the house. Observed with the same non-judgmental manner Marston brought to Maria Full of Grace , the film has an earthy whiff of authenticity. But it's seriously lacking in incident and dramatic drive. Admirable work by British cinematographer Rob Hardy, though.