Mission
For some, time moves on and life changes; for others, life becomes a trap from which they are unable to escape, the world around Dylan seeming unreal, blank, his actions mechanical and done without thought, working in the restaurant in an upmarket Glasgow hotel but his life without meaning, a drone existing rather than living.
A confrontation with a visiting executive leading to the termination of his employment rather than an offer of support, Dylan makes a choice: to allow himself to follow his impulses and whims, to fully exist in the moment without fear of consequence, to go and do what he wants, to destroy and taunt and run risks, to live for a single week before he dies.
Its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, written and directed by Paul Wright and reuniting him with the lead of his debut feature For Those in Peril, he has sent George MacKay on a Mission, the charismatic and paradoxical star of The Beast and Rose of Nevada stripped bare and emotionally raw, a man who has abandoned ties and cares for nothing, certainly not himself or his wellbeing.
With Harvest’s Rosie McEwan as sister Claire, concerned but unable to reach him through his many barriers, Bridgerton’s Emma Naomi as his former co-worker Becky and Prometheus’ Emun Elliot as James, the arrogant executive whose vendetta pushes Dylan out the door, onto the streets and into a mental health meltdown and its consequent rampage, Mission is powerful but unsettling, an endurance test for the viewer as much as for Dylan.
The world giving him no reason to care, a primal scream of rage persisting until he is hollowed out, burning everything becomes his answer, the past becoming ashes, provoking others just to prove he still exists, that he can be noticed, that he has not already faded, almost as though he is challenging someone to help him, he is like the macaque he liberates from the zoo, unable to fend for itself and lost in a strange environment, unable to express its needs.
At times abstract, bordering on experimental, Dylan’s life has been one of disappointment and frustration, of few opportunities, hands slapping him down more often than they ever lifted him up, Mission sees a man whose soul has already been destroyed trying to rekindle a spark within him, to find a reason to continue or accept his downward spiral through fear and brave but terrible karaoke hell, unable to find peace in a world of closed doors which only consumes.
Edinburgh International Film Festival continues until Wednesday 19th August
