Deadliness concerns the father’s emotional state in a moving interpretation Benedict Cumberbatch. The father of two sons (real brothers, Richard and Henry Boxall, successfully play their roles) is depressed. After the death of his wife, his house is “dead in the morning”, “alive at night”.
The hero tries to cope with the loss; he knows well that his sons need him. However, it is not so easy to assume the role of mother, hostess and guardian. Dad burns sandwiches, sometimes he gets irritated. It’s just that his house is no longer the house that everyone remembers so well. At home it becomes scary: “alive at night, dead in the morning.” The titular Raven, the great bird, appears (voice of David Thewlis).
Southern’s screenplay was based on Max Porter’s 2015 debut novel. The original title, “Grief Is the Thing with Feathers”, comes from Emily Dickinson’s memorable poem: “Hope is the Thing with Feathers”. First, there was a famous stage adaptation – he created the role of his father in a play performed at the Barbican Theater in London Cillian Murphy – the success of the show meant that the cinema also demanded “The Crow’s Time”.
Director of “Raven Time”, Dylan Southernis experienced creator of music videos and music films – his loudest and best film is the award-winning documentary “Shut Up and Play” from 2012, about the dissolution of the band LCD SoundsystemBut he also worked with Björk, Blur and Arctic Monkeysand can be heard in the film’s soundtrack The Cure or Meredith Monk.
Cumberbatch’s father is a cartoonist (in Porter’s novel, he was a writer working on a biography of Ted Hughes). Profession matters. The artist’s works are visualized in the space of imaginationbuild the drama of the film, becoming the motor of the imagination.
In “Raven Time”, Southern’s genre combines drama with horror. The setting is interesting, the acting in the film is downright outstanding in placesbut narratively quite superficial. The titular ravenhowever successful the special effects in the film are, becomes an obvious metaphor for a symbol of danger, sadness, depression, but also hope. In the existential dimension, “raven time” means the period of recovering from mourning, moving from a state of breakdown to functioning within the framework of memory. The deceased is still within us, but the most difficult moment caused by sudden death has already been averted.
“Grief after loss is different. It is not far away. It comes in the form of waves, paroxysms, sudden attacks of anxiety that make your legs weak, blur your vision and make everyday life disappear,” wrote Joan Didon in the formative “The Year of Magical Thinking.” Cumberbatch played someone like that. Disagreement with fate, with an unfair deal, disagreement with a new life on old ruins, sometimes powerlessness, sometimes anger. After “The Time of the Raven” comes the time of remembrance.
For viewers struggling with the problem of loss – and who, after all, is not free from such experiences – “The Crow’s Time” may turn out to be an imperfect, but valuable signpost.
6/10
“Raven Time” (The Thing with Feathers), dir. Dylan Southern, Great Britain 2025, distributor, cinema premiere: November 28, 2025., for viewers struggling