Lollygag

There is something quite compulsively macabre about watching Lollygag, written and directed by Tij D'oyen, especially when one realises that we’re watching a person watching someone else. Then it’s difficult to shake off the feeling that we have been, however unwitting, voyeurs to a tragedy.  With more than a little influence from Albert Camus’ L'étranger, we watch as the girl next door (played by Gaby Slape) watches the poolside antics of the boy next door (played by Isaac Powell).  He has fun, visitors and… chocolate.  Everything happens under her sharp but clinical gaze - from the safe distance of her bedroom window. 

It’s a fairly straightforward narrative but below the surface there is something discomfiting about both the way she goes about this, what she sees and her ultimate reaction to events.

I won’t spoil what happens in the film – but its not a comfortable watch. But, as I have said before, it’s quite compulsive watching the watcher watch the boy. Until… until – well, you will have to watch this yourself to find out.  Click the play button below and fasten your psychological seatbelt…