Favourite Discoveries of 2016 (7)

Here is Mark Bailey's favourite crime/thriller discovery of 2016:

Mark's Favourite Discovery of 2016

The Library Suicides / Y Llyfrgell (Film 2016)

When famous author Elena Wdig commits suicide, her twin daughters Nan and Ana are lost without her. Elena’s final words suggest that her biographer, Eben, murdered her. One night, the twins set off to avenge their mother’s death whilst working as Librarians at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth but are disrupted by night porter Dan who finds himself unwillingly caught up in the saga.

I bought this on DVD after reading a number of positive reviews about it. It definitely isn’t crime or mystery but an offbeat thriller perhaps or Science Fiction or Horror even – it really does defy categorisation.

It is directed in Welsh by award winning director Euros Lyn (Broadchurch Series 1, Happy Valley, Doctor Who, Torchwood: Children of Earth) and based on a novel by Fflur Dafydd. It has a very small cast headed by Catrin Stewart as the twins and is shot almost entirely in the bowels of the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth (the scenes that aren’t take place just down the road from the building that acts as the police station in Y Gwyll/Hinterland which you see in long shots).

Why do I like it?
It plays with the whole notion of narrative and character – what you see and hear can be taken in multiple ways and you are not sure what is the truth or even if there is such a thing.
The cast are excellent especially Catrin Stewart who plays the twins so you begin to care about them – they may look identical but morally & psychologically they most certainly are not.

If you get a chance to see this (and given the involvement of S4C and BBC Films I would expect a TV showing in the UK in the next year or so) watch it – it is a great 87 minute film.