everything you have heard about this movie is true.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

a foursome in some beautiful remote countryside place?haven't i seen this before?well, browsed through all the 10 reviews so far, hoping someone has mentioned what i'm going to say but didn't find it ... except for one making a hint to The Dreamers by Bertolucci ... which is not exactly this really as there are only three people in that, two of whom a brother and a sister ... and like most Bertolucci movies, it's strongly politically inclined ... so, that's not one of the two movies with a similar theme i had in mind ...Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969) is one of them though, which has a four-stars cast, all beautiful and handsome and super famous ... and the other's a movie i really wish to watch again but haven't been able to find because i don't remember its name, nor that of any of its actors (and it was either a late 1960s or early 1970s movie btw ...) i do remember that unlike this one that's rather an artsy movie, it was more a commercial product (with a strong moralistic message in the end) although still good and worth seeing ... and if i recall it right, it had a four-stars cast too ...anyhoot, why did i get into all the detail about the other two similar movies here? simply because i wanted to point out that from the VP of story, Amorous (Hide and Seek) is not a 'new' movie really ... but the way it is made (trying to be "artsy" as some have put it already, while also being low cost and indie) then this work is certainly very much different from the other two 'big production' cases just mentioned above ...and i have to say i did like this work but i do also find it a little lacking in some ways ... as well as a little confused ... for example, this could well be a nice little soft porn movie, but it's not ... or it could delve more into the innards of the characters, but it doesn't quite do that either ... so, it's kind of lost between the two worlds maybe ... and maybe that's what the director had in mind too? maybe ... maybe there's also a soft porn cut of this work in the director's personal archives just as well, you know, with its sex scenes in full ... maybe ...

With little preamble, four young adults go to live in an isolated country cottage and unleash their imaginations and libidos. I am not sure what this film is trying to say, but I understand how it is being said.This is a stylish film, filled with pastoral scenes of solitude and contemplation. The four are initially guarded and awkward, but as time passes, they organically grow as a foursome, granting each other permission to experiment and unleash they childish impulses for fun. As the days and nights unfold, the lines between reality and fantasy/pretend become blurred. Ultimately, they must learn to trust each other if their experiment is to continue.This film might have been titled "polyamorous", given the nature of their relationship after weeks of intimate seclusion. It is primarily a series of vignettes, providing glimpses into their evolving four-person relationship. They achieve some measure of freedom from social conventions, but the experiment is open-ended.

The synopsis of this film is that four vulnerable young adults flee London to start an unconventional life in the country and find their very own Utopia. They have not all met before either so this has all the hallmarks of being interesting. Now I can't say any more than that without revealing parts of the plot – needless to say this has a few issues which I will deal with next – but please do not read if you do not want any reveals. Plot Spoilers aheadThe film explores how they decide to explore this alternative lifestyle and this is basically by having acting and improv workshops as a prelude to a free for all in the bedrooms. They have rules too to underscore that there, effectively, will be no rules. They are also dyed in the wool upper middle class as nothing practical is covered at all. The food seems to magically appear – but they do have a rota for the terribly leaden part of life that is the cooking.There is a spark of interest when an outsider comes a calling and the apple cart looks like it may be upset, but this is a 'bridge' for a tune that is basically all more of the same.Now this has received mixed critics reviews – some are very favourable indeed but user reviews tend to be less applauding and I am leaning towards those. There is a lot of nudity here too and simulated sex as well as 'self pleasuring'. If that is meant to be indicative of Utopia – all well and good – but cinematically and even artistically it is as new an idea as having a 'twist' in a thriller – unless of course you are doing 'art house porn'. And we all know that means it is just porn with more subtle lighting and untidy pubic hair.So all in all a bit of a miss – I did watch the whole thing but was left non plussed by the experience. I could still see a lot to merit here – cinematography for example – and the acting was very good indeed. However, as an ensemble piece it barely passes muster so only go for it if you really are a massive fan of the auteur art house scene and a good bottle of wine to aid your viewing digestion.

Joanna Coate's Hide and Seek is an ode to beauty. Grace is everywhere, whether it be in the cinematography, the story, the characters or the actors. The same way the characters in the film defy society by creating their own little utopia, the film generally defies our expectations regarding modern cinema. Coates has done away with the conventional plot. There is no beginning, no middle, no end to the story. She has done away with the socially-dictated faultless images of the body. Beauty in this movie can be found as much in its perfection as a unique picture, as in its deliberate imperfection.Constructed around the central themes of nature, boundaries of intimacy, social non-conformism and freedom, Hide and Seek will leave you reflective. In our busy lives, few are the times we allow ourselves to escape reality and question things society has taught us to internalize. Could we be capable of undertaking the protagonists' journey? Would we be willing? What do we owe society that we shouldn't just seek to create our own utopias?These are some pretty profound questions, yet there is something to be said about the softness of the film. A plot so uncomplicated, a setting so peaceful and stripped of business, the fact that most of the scenes happen in a small perimeter in and around the same house make for a pure, distilled, easy to watch film. Hide and Seek is a triumph of artistry in that it glistens beauty through simplicity, and perfection through difference.