Until Branches Bend

Directed by Sophie Jarvis, Until Branches Bend follows Grace Glowicki’s Robin as she triggers a local firestorm after discovering that a rare beetle has burrowed into a peach during her shift at a fruit-packaging company. Filmmaker Jarvis, working from her screenplay, delivers an exceedingly (and sometimes excessively) low-key drama that benefits rather substantially from its atmospheric visuals and Glowicki’s completely convincing and thoroughly compelling performance, as, in terms of the latter, the actress steps into the shoes of her increasingly obsessive character to a degree that remains fairly spellbinding from start to finish – which does, in turn, ensure that the picture is at its best when focused on Robin’s character-study-like exploits. (There are a few narrative tangents, including (and especially) the exploits of Robin’s boss’ wife, that ultimately come off as distracting and superfluous.) And although the movie admittedly does possess a small handful of questionable elements, with this particularly true of Kieran Jarvis’ misguided and thoroughly grating score, Until Branches Bend ultimately builds towards a satisfying and almost apocalyptic climax that ensures it concludes on an impressively memorable note – with the end result a strong debut feature for Jarvis that boasts, at its core, a star-making turn from its lead performer.

**1/2 out of ****