I've not seen any of the director's any other films - but was intrigued by the synopsis and Kermode's introduction on BFI Player (which is where I watched it).
However, I'm now really not sure I would recommend it. On the positive side, it's nicely shot and starts very well, setting up some interesting characters, including the two central (boy and girl) roles. There's also some sotto-voce mystery elements - such as: is she really disturbed or just "put away" for family convenience?; what's the real nature of the relationship between him and his mother?; are some of the scenes in the woods real or imagined? etc.
However, frustratingly for me, rather than address these questions, this instead turns in the direction of a "young Badlands" with an increasing level of implausibility - and sometimes the level of acting doesn't really counter this enough to hold the mood (e.g. her reaction to the hen). There is also no apparent consequence to their trail of destruction - which made me think that there must be some allegorical dimension that I was missing... and then it ended. Twice.
So - if you are a fan of films that *don't* tie up all the loose ends and are happy to just go along for the ride - then you may enjoy this, or you may not. I'm not sure I did.
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