The Souvenir Part II
The Souvenir Part II is a quiet drama, which feels intimate and fragile, but played out on a larger canvas. At its centre, it’s a portrait of a young woman coming to grips with a broken heart. Scrapping her project about working-class life in the Sunderland, Julie decides to create a version of her relationship with Anthony.
Julie takes her first steps in the professional film world through pop-promo shoots and the flamboyant filmmaker Patrick (played by Richard Ayoade), who she met in the first part. Ayoade is fabulous and outrageous as ego manic director who compares himself to Martin Scorsese and dismisses praise during editing.
This is definitely Honor Swinton Byrne’s film . . . she comes into her own, a quiet delicate presence, but absolutely absorbing. Joanna Hogg has delivered a gorgeous follow-up which much deeper, funnier, with more imaginative than Part 1.
The film is available exclusively on MUBI, various streaming platforms and DVD & blu-ray.
