In British writer-director Bryn Chaney’s feature debut, he uses Celtic folklore and the intimacy of sound to unpack a darkness that some might struggle to put in words.
Set in 1973, Rabbit Trap stars Dev Patel and Rosy McEwen as Darcy and Daphne, an influential musical couple from London who retreats to an isolated cabin in the Welsh countryside to finish their next album. But when Darcy records a sound not meant for human ears, he accidentally conjures ancient mystical beings from the forest.
Best viewed in Dolby, the film utilizes hypnotic sounds in every scene, largely through the field recordings made by Darcy in the surrounding woods. In addition to sounds of dripping water, clanging metal and crunching grass, Darcy demonstrates how the medium is sacred as he explains that “sound is a ghost … and your body is the house it haunts.”
After recording strange sounds in the forest, Darcy brings the audio home to Daphne, who is quickly seduced and hoisted into a “sublime” creative breakthrough. The cosmic intensity of composer Lucrecia Dalt’s score and Graham Reznick’s sound design immerses the audience in Daphne’s chaotic creative process, as well as her passionate relationship with Darcy, with one sex scene set to fae music that feels like a euphoric acid trip.
But sound is also used to express the darkness within. As Darcy struggles with sleep paralysis, Daphne records him talking in his sleep, giving words to the darkness that he can’t face while awake. Although there are certain words they still can’t say out loud to each other, sound is utilized to emphasize their connection as Patel and McEwen’s profound physical performances do the rest.
And with their new discovery bringing them out of their creative funk, the couple is visited by a nameless child (Jade Croot) who was drawn to their music. Educating them on local folklore, as well as his affinity for rabbit hunting, the peculiar kid soon takes a shining to the couple.
Croot’s performance as the mysterious youth provides a range of emotions for Patel and McEwen to play on, with a natural parental compassion that builds through their dynamic, offset with a growing dread. The trio navigates the emotional weight of the story with a delicate synchronicity that peels back the layers of trauma brimming within Darcy’s subconscious, threatening to drag Daphne’s creative spirit down with him.
Following Patel’s hit directorial debut with last year’s Monkey Man, it would appear that the multi-hyphenate actor is paying it forward with Chaney’s debut, providing an emotionally raw performance that matches the deep dark well of this rising auteur’s imagination.
Producers are Lawrence Inglee, Daniel Noah, Elijah Wood, Elisa Lleras, Adrian Politowski and Martin Metz.
Title: Rabbit Trap
Section: Sundance (Midnight)
Sales Agent: CAA, Bankside Films
Director: Bryn Chainey
Screenwriter: Bryn Chainey
Cast: Dev Patel, Rosy McEwen and Jade Croot
Running time: 97 min