Crush

An intriguing and often impressive debut feature in which, following a car crash, the driver (Harden) - a predatory young American - takes the place of her injured literary critic friend (Rees), then insinuates herself into the home and hearts of a famous writer (Zappa) and his teenage daughter (Bossley). A study in deceit, manipulation, obsession and awakening awareness, Maclean's film starts unsteadily - the narrative a mite too elliptical and enigmatic for its own good - but slowly resolves itself into a powerful if faintly overheated melodrama. Beautifully performed, however, and shot with a great deal of dramatic resonance in a bleak, dank New Zealand countryside full of glooping geysers and precarious footholds.