Two Years at Sea – review

Winner of an international critics' prize at Venice, this grainy, monochrome documentary records the solitary, silent life of Jake Williams, a hirsute hermit of indeterminate age living in squalor in the Scottish highlands. There are long takes of him in his primitive shower, walking in the snow, building a raft, annotating an undisclosed book, sitting in the dark before a fire. How he came to be there, what he's thinking, how he can afford a smart 4x4 are questions left unanswered. It's a contemplative film, and most members of the audience are likely to be contemplating how they can get out of the cinema without appearing to be philistines.