Another Day to Live Through Review

3 star strange and disconcerting horror/thriller.

Another Day to Live Through is a 2023 British/Finnish arthouse horror/thriller film written and directed by Peter Simmons in his feature directorial debut.

Presented half in English and half in Finnish with English subtitles, it is available on Digital Platforms in the UK from 11th September 2023 courtesy of Reel 2 Reel Films.

“Look, my cabin is over the other side of the lake. Only place around here, just in case. There’s a storm on the way later.”

As the film opens, it’s day ten (of how many we do not know) and we see a young woman covered in blood, stepping into a lake, drinking a whisky in a rocking chair, asleep on a bed and obviously confused.

Back to day one and now we meet Satu (Lene Kqiku), a young Finnish woman who has recently suffered a bereavement and is seeking solace in the open spaces and forests of her home. Hiking to the Wilderness cabin at Viitasaari, she encounters a local named Lauri (Timo Torikka – Power of Love, The Other Side of Hope), who warns her of an impending storm.

Now it’s day two and Satu is in a cabin, injured and being cared for by Lauri, who tells her she was hurt in the storm and he found her in the forest. It’s obvious as we move between various days that something is terribly wrong here. Things seem to repeat themselves, roles reverse and various acts of bloody and brutal violence begin to blur the lines between right and wrong.

When another stranger (Vincent Willestrand – The Unknown Soldier) is thrown into the mix, things are bound to come to a head.

“Didn’t find any stuff, just you. Passed out in the middle of the woods. Do  you remember at all what happened?”

Another Day to Live Through is a very strange film. I wouldn’t say enjoyable, but it certainly leaves an impression which is clearly the intention. The pacing of this film is very slow but it’s all held together well by a dramatic and unsettling score by Daisy Coole and Tom Nettleship as TWOTWENTYTWO.

The acting is superb, especially given that there are only two people for the majority of the screen time. The fragmentary nature of the story, the way the days overlap and the disjointed time lines are clever and add to the sense of disorientation that pervades the film.

It won’t be for everyone, but it’s an interesting slow burner that never  goes where you expect it to, and well worth a watch.

“Country hospitality. It’s emergency rations. Don’t worry…soon you’ll forget what real food tasted like.”

Another Day to Live Through is on UK digital 11 September 2023 from Reel 2 Reel Films