The Souvenir: Part II Movie Review

When sitting down to watch this film, please make sure you’ve just finished “The Souvenir” first, as it picks up very nicely where that first one left off. Back-to-back watching is essential. ​
The first movie tells us about Julie (Honor Swinton Byrne), a young film student, and her desire for filmmaking. In extreme ways, it’s pretty detailed about her naivety in the ways of love. She falls for a man named Anthony (Tom Burke), who hurts her in every conceivable way. He lies to her, steals from her and gets her to borrow money from her wealthy parents so that he can do what he really wants… drugs. Julie’s feelings are never considered by Anthony, only his next fix. The audience watches him hurt her, time after time, and sees her accepting him back into her life, over and over.

“The Souvenir: Part II” is much better than part one. It has an interesting element, in that the film student is now directing the film she needs to turn in for graduation. The subject of her piece is what she went through with Anthony. She’s seemingly working through the relationship while directing the film and the actors, who, as it turns out, aren’t in on the therapy session. They have a hard time believing their characters would behave in the way she requires them to for the scenes. Not only is the cast a little off-put, but the crew is growing frustrated with her lack of preparation.
Her professors don’t believe in her project either. They also don’t think the script that she turned in for her film is at all professional. Of course, she ignores their criticisms and moves on with her project, flaws and all.

After getting positive advice from fellow students Patrick (Richard Ayoade) and Marland (Jaygann Ayeh), two unforgettably noteworthy characters, she makes the film she wants to make. This is the journey we see play throughout the rest of the film. During this time, we’ll hear a cameraman yell out that “order is broken down,” but that doesn’t deter Julie from what she has to do to succeed. And to not only graduate but to grow. It’s as though her very existence rests on this achievement. That and progressing beyond needing men in her life to be happy.

I’ll admit that this would have been better if they had cut the two films into one. It’s a moving story, with an outstanding cast and an unbelievably unprecedented ending. The first part felt too long and a bit on the dull side. We needed its older brother to come along; we had to have Part 2! No, the second part can’t work as a stand-alone film, requiring everything from part one to make it whole, but it’s so provocative. As one film, though, this would have been remarkable. With all that in mind, I warn, it’s a crime not to watch them together, but a lot to ask of an audience. That said, if you watch, there is a reward in it for you at the end. That’s only one word, and that word pulls everything together, making you question everything you just saw. I won’t say what that is, but it’s brilliant.