London Film Festival 2012 – day one: Eat Sleep Die

Saturday 13^th October, 3.15pm – Vue Leicester square
Wednesday 17^th October, 9pm – Curzon Mayfair

Gabriela Pinchler’s feature debut Eat Sleep Die has been entered into the First Feature competition at London Film Festival. The film follows Rasa, a factory worker in rural Sweden. As the film progresses, the wider implications of the European financial crisis creep into her world and she is made redundant. Rasa and her former colleagues face an uncertain future.

Considering this is a feature debut, Eat Sleep Die is remarkably accomplished. It is as much a character study as it is exploring wider themes through the microcosm of Rasa’s small village. Pinchler expertly weaves a story that looks into immigration, self worth, isolation and class among other facets. Each theme is not laid bare and openly stated, but through naturalistic dialogue and an excellently crafted narrative. For instance Rasa’s friends from the factory start to blame Muslims and immigrants for the redundancies. Rasa chides them for this, as she is a Montenegrin Muslim. However, she is just as guilty as the others, as she claims the Iraqis should be the first to be fired due to their work ethic. 

The cinematography is gorgeous and bleak. The verdant Swedish landscape is shot in a dreary and bland way. Despite being surrounded by natural beauty, the characters are entrapped by the dilapidated man-made structures. The constantly moving, documentary style camera work in conjunction with the natural lighting serves to make the story even more hard-hitting. All the actors perform magnificently, to a degree that one starts to question if Eat Sleep Die is a documentary.

While the subject matter may sound depressing, Pinchler stays away from creating a desolate environment. Sad things happen, but they are not dwelt upon or hammed up and as such, Eat Sleep Die creates a bitterly sweet feeling.

Verdict: ••••

Joey Godman

Read more reviews from the 56^th London Film Festival here.

Watch the trailer for Eat Sleep Die here