Settle into your seat quickly because there is no real beginning to this movie and you just might miss something crucial. I do not quite remember what it was that I saw as “The Souvenir” began, but within seconds I was taken to the middle of a conversation in a small flat, somewhere in the UK. I am guessing it was some time in the late 1970s or early 1980s.

Honor Swindon Byrne is Julie, an aspiring filmmaker, hanging out with her fellow film school classmates (and roommates), discussing project ideas and doing all of the typical things young people do at a house gathering.

At some point, she meets up with a man by the of Anthony (played by Tom Burke, “The Hooligan Factory”). He is a very distinguished-looking man and projects a great deal of confidence in his communication and stride. As their relationship develops, they visit an art gallery and spend some time examining and analyzing a small painting. It is entitled ‘The Souvenir.’ If you pay close attention, you can draw a clear, symbolic connection between what is being said about the piece and how it relates to Julie’s character within the story.

Soon, it becomes evident that Anthony has a deep, dark secret, which he is able to hide fairly well from the naïve and passive Julie. Even once a friend of Anthony’s, Patrick (played by Richard Ayoade, “The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part”), reveals this secret to Julie, she seems to have a difficult time accepting it.

Things quickly begin to unravel when Julie comes home to Anthony and discovers that there has been a break-in (at their flat which they now share). The set-up to the scene is what makes it more meaningful: Julie discusses the wonder of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho,” describing the lack of violence in the iconic murder sequence, implying that it is what we do not see that scares us. Anthony appears to be genuinely bothered and upset, as some valuable jewelry items have been taken in the apparent theft. Once the truth about the incident comes out, it seems obvious that Anthony cannot be trusted and is quite casual in his delivery, regardless of the circumstance.

When we think about the 1980s, there are specific details we tend to recall more than the others. There is a dark side, which is unavoidable and it is not just the knowledge of the AIDS disease. Beyond that, heavy drug use took so many lives, in those days. However, we have rarely seen what that looked like. One thing that “The Souvenir” presents well is a seemingly accurate and honest portrayal of heroine addiction. As difficult as recovery is today, it probably pails in comparison to what it must have been back then. As you can likely imagine, the results were often tragic.

It is certainly nothing new to see another movie in which the screenplay was written by the director. Joanna Hogg is no stranger to this, as she went through the same process in “Exhibition,” her previous film. The dialogue of “The Souvenir” was quite good, but I sometimes felt lost in the actual story. I realize that in a character-driven movie, the plot is secondary to the people, but I see nothing wrong with expecting some semblance of continuity.

About three-quarters of the way through, I was ready for the story to end, but I was unsure of when that could be because how does one end a story that seemingly had no beginning?

“The Souvenir” is chalked full of emotions and the acting performances are very strong, throughout. I almost forgot to acknowledge the performance of the chameleon-like Tilda Swinton (“Avengers: Endgame”), as Rosalind. Her role is secondary in nature, but has some good moments, especially towards the end of the film.

As much as I wanted to like this movie, I thought that the overall execution was pretty choppy. There were some clever filming angles to go along with the great interactions between Julie and Anthony, but I was not quite satisfied with the final result. Funny enough, what I consider to be a slightly subpar score is considered slightly above par on Rotten Tomatoes. I am saying I do not approve, yet according to that site, I do approve. I guess I need to make a slight adjustment, so I do not get mixed in with the overwhelming majority on this particular occasion. In this case, I am saying that “The Souvenir” is being overrated…

Director: Joanna Hogg
Screenwriter: Joanna Hogg
Starring: Honor Swinton Byrne, Tom Burke, Tilda Swinton, Richard Ayoade, Jack Mullen, James Dodd and Ariane Labed
Cinematography: David Raedeker
Distributor: A24 and Curzon Artificial Eye
Release: January 27th, 2019 (Sundance); May 17th, 2019 (US); August 30th, 2019 (UK)