A One Mann’s Movies review of “Child”. (2026, 3.5*, ’15’).
Child is the feature debut of Luxembourg-based / Iranian born (and exiled) writer/director Cyrus Neshvad, who made the Oscar-nominated Short The Red Suitcase from 2023. Child film received its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January and goes on general release in the UK this Friday, Sept. 25th (in what I assume will be a limited release).
A happy film it is not! And (ignoring the current 9.2 rating on IMDB!) it is not without flaws in my eyes. But it is nonetheless an interesting piece of work, with some impressive cinematography and twists that you don’t see coming and which leave you in a constant state of tension.
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
We start the film with doctor Greg (Malik Zidi) locking his comatose son in a basement room of a Luxembourg hospital. There is something clandestine and wrong going on through an arrangement with his consultant son-in law. But when Greg starts a journey across Europe with his non-communicative wife Anne (Brigitte Urhausen) the pair go to a very dark place.
Certification:
UK: ’15’; US: ‘R’. (The film has yet to receive a BBFC certificate, but due to dark themes and some horror elements, I would expect it to be 15/R rated.)
Talent:
Starring: Malik Zidi, Brigitte Urhausen, Lydia Indjova.
Directed by: Cyrus Neshvad.
Written by: Guillaume Levil & Cyrus Neshvad.
Running Time: 1h 18m.
Review:
Positives:
- “What IS going on?” This was what I kept saying to myself as the film unwound its first reel. The script neatly keeps everything pretty much under-wraps (and unlike some early reviews I’ve seen, I will not be spilling the beans here). But, it’s fair to say that we go to a pretty dark place: a “monstrous” place, as Greg declares. These are two parents, at odds with each other due to the circumstances of Leo’s accident. But they become complicit in a mission into the heart of darkness itself. While the theme is not quite as sickly blacker-than-black as Caye Casas’s The Coffee Table (and here, not aiming for black comedy at all), it would still count in my book as a ‘Father Ted film’ (see Glossary). But like Obsession and Eddington before it, I respect it for not seeking a ‘Hollywood’ ending.
- Like all good suspense films – there is a time-dependant factor to help keep the viewer on edge. In The Shallows it was the high-tide; in both 47 Metres Down and Oxygen it was oxygen; in Fall it was water. Here we have a McGuffin that is literally ticking down to sudden death. And it’s a device that Neshvad uses in a nicely understated way: there are no crass lines of dialogue mansplaining it to us: we all just know.
- The acting performances are decent enough, given this is a low-budget film, with Lydia Indjova as the irate mother Lydia, arriving mid-film, impressing the most.
- One of the standouts on the technical front is the cinematography from Nikos Welter. Much of the film is shot in near-darkness, but the illumination of faces (either through torches, phone lights or the different coloured light emanating from a ‘device’) is impressively captured. There was also a moment in a car, with Anne in focus in the extreme foreground and Greg in focus in the passenger seat that reminded me of the recent The End of Oak Street: I’m not sure if a similar Split-Diopter-Lens approach was used, but it was an impressive effect.
- The production values associated with a creepy house in the woods is pretty good. I assume, given the film’s budget, that this WAS actually a creepy abandoned house in the woods. But the set-dressing etc showed a certain style.
Negatives:
- The film builds itself into a tense game of cat-and-mouse between two parties in the woods of an unnamed country (though a railway timetable might suggest Poland). I was really enjoying the tension being established. But then something weird happens and the film takes a left-turn into The Twilight Zone as you become aware of a third protagonist becoming involved. At that point, the film rather lost me. To me, this felt like two different films being shoehorned together in the most unlikely – and conveniently timely – way. There was some sort of tying up of the two strands at the end, but – to be perfectly honest – I didn’t understand it! (I’m sure at some point IMDB will have a synopsis and I will go “Ah, OK, got it”.)
- There are a few moments in the film where the low-budget comes crashing through and which took me completely out of the film. One features one of the most lacklustre car crashes that I have witnessed in a while. If it were not for a deployed airbag, I would have mistaken it for a sudden bout of braking. Another features a character being lowered from a window which I only assume was filmed that way because the stunt lady (if there was one) was off sick. A final one was more script related: a “lock-in” situation – reminiscent of the recent The Last House on Netflix – seems eminently solvable with a bit more effort from Greg and his knife! The word “lame” came to mind.
Summary Thoughts:
As a first feature, this showed real promise, especially in its first two reels. It goes to a monstrous place, in style. At just 78 minutes, it was lean, mean and always engaged. I just wish that the film hadn’t over-stretched as it did in the final reel.
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer for the film is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1Qx9uviGww.
Subscribe
Don’t forget, you can subscribe to One Mann’s Movies to receive future reviews by email right here. No salesman will call!