"A distinctive non-fiction account of the daily life on one Jake Williams, a bearded hermit native to the Scottish Highlands who'd taken the decision to opt out of polite society many years before that society got far less polite. For him, this is a way of life; for his director, a source of ongoing fascination; for us, a break from the hyperaccelerated norm, be that AI boosterism, the endless bellowing about borders, or the quest for upward mobility in a society that doesn't - and won't - allow it. I don't think I entirely grasped what Two Years at Sea represented back in 2011; in 2025, it would be impossible not to notice, appreciate, even cherish it.'
Mike McCahill, Cinésthesia
★★★★
'The lure of the Scottish wilderness...It's over a decade later and we're back in the wood with Jake, still eking out a happy existence in his tumbledown shack and drinking in the pleasures of the rugged and serene landscape. In the climatic shot...he warms up the water in an old tin bath and just marinates there, this time the camera itself floating away like a bubble caught on the breeze eaving us with another vision of blissful contentment.'
David Jenkins, Little White Lies
★★★★★
'The crispy crackle of kindling as it catches, the wind in the pines, the creaks and groans of an old caravan suspension as it trundles unwittingly pulled down a track, the chew and slurp of a meal heartily consumed, and the birdsong that floats above all the other sounds. Rivers has found a fascinating muse in Jake, and does the man's story justice. A truly moving and beautiful experience, this gentle exploration offers an escape route from the mayhem of Modernity.'
Dan Carrier, Camden New Journal, West End Extra, Islington Tribute
'Ben Rivers is primarily an artist, and it shows. Every frame of Bogancloch is treated as a work of art and the viewer is given ample time to relish the beauty of the framing, lighting and composition. Many of the shots fall into traditional categories such as still life, landscape and portraiture and would work equally well as photographs. As a visual poem that invites you to question what makes for a meaningful life, Bogancloch is an absolute joy. And the final scene (which I won't divulge) is a jaw-dropping delight.'
Sarah Kent, The Arts Desk
'This austere, mediative collage of glimpses of the solitary life of Scottish hermit Jake Williams feels unusally in tune wit the natural world. Williams rarely speaks, but as we watch him tenderlly coaxing seedlings into the loam, we get a sense of a man who has found peace.'
Wendy Ide, The Observer
★★★★
'A haunting film brimming with transcendent imagery.'
Rivers crafts the kind of cinema that is the absolute antithesis of today's hyperactive online culture. And like the late, great Jonas Mekas and fellow UK filmmaker Mark Jenkins, Rivers painstakingly hand develops the celluloid in his studio. In this regard, Rivers creates some of the most impressionist and downright transcendent images in cinema today.'
Adam Stafford, The Skinny
★★★★
'For those with an eye for slow cinema, experimental editing, and an intimate depiction of a quiet life, this film is exceptional.
The journey ends with a fascinating long take that does justice to the slow cinema technique seen in Bresson's Pickpocket and Tarkovsky's Mirror.'
Justin Bower, Loud and Clear
"Fascinating.' Spectacular final shot.'
"Not quite a documentary and not quite a work of fiction either, this is a contemplative curio...."
Lesley Felperin, The Guardian
'Ben Rivers' glorious new film continues his fascination with a Scottish forest-dweller. The pleasure of the film is that, if you are willing to spend some time with Jake on his own terms, there is an ease that comes with it.'
John Bleasdale, Sight & Sound
★★★★
'A pleasant one to sit through'
'Shot on 16mm, admittedly slow moving, but the minutiae - from the tapes Williams plays, to the bath he has set for himself outside his domicile - makes for compelling, even hypnotic, viewing, particularly the night scenes which are typically done around a bonfire. The cinematography is the documentary's greatest strength giving it a coating rarely seen in this field of movie-making..'
Eoghan Lyng, Dirty Movies
'Entrancing. Invites contemplation and defies comprehension. Like the best of cinema -or, at least, the kind I respond to most passionately - the films of Ben Rivers immerse us in stories that aren't as interested in solving enigmas as letting us luxuriate in them. With its capacity to wring bliss and beauty out of the most mundane routines, the film approximates something close to what Herzog once called "ecstatic truth" - that mysterious, elusive type of truth that can only be reached through imagination.'
Leonardo Goi, The Film Stage
'...an especially beautiful illustration of the insight that documentary realism needn’t preclude wild flights of fancy.'
Max Goldberg, Film Comment
★★★★
'If it wasn't for the excellent, immersive sound design from Chu-Li Shewring, you could easily believe you were watching a piece of silent movie found footage.'
Amber Wilkinson, Eye For Film
'There is less of the whimsy here that was in Two Years at Sea which included magical realist moments of levitation. Our perspective is still ultimately drawn up into the sky, but in a manner that, as our attention is turned towards the light of the cosmos, emphasises the humble scale of all on our planet, and one human's life.'
Carmen Gray, The Film Verdict
★★★★
'This is a film of purity, of both vision and existence. At times there is a dancing sense of kinesis at the edge of the frame that makes it seem like remembrance of things past while being situated in the real. A flickering in sparks and electricity that indicates the flickering flame of Brechtian doubt which proves the real.'
Meredith Taylor, Fimuforia
'Bogancloch aligns with the principle of slow cinema, eschewing plot in favor of focussing on seemingly insignificant details. Nature plays a crucial role in Williams' life, and his wanderings through the landscape offer moments of mediative tranquillity. Living off the grid, Williams embraces a lifestyle free of modern anxieties and distractions, embodying a return to basics reminiscent of Thoreau's Walden in a world increasingly dominated by data and algorithms.'
Martin Kudlac, Screen Anarchy
'Ben Rivers' glorious new film continues his fascination with a Scottish forest-dweller. Bogancloch is an intimate and poignant yet wholly unsentimental story about a man who's fighting to defend his own freedom.'
Muriel Del Don, Cineuropa
'Ben Rivers' elusive and lyrical documentary...timeless almost mythical. In the film's most haunting moment, a choir visit and by firelight sing the Hamish Henerson Scottish poem 'The Flyting o'Life and Daith' about the ebb and pull between life and death.'
David Willoughby, The Crack Magazine
'It's a blessing that Ben Rivers wanted to visit this man's life again, and his flowing filmmaking style is still bewitchingly gripping.'
Ali Ercivan, International Cinephile Society
'There is a lot of emotional nourishment to be gained from settling into it... Down to its marvel of a closing shot – a long bird’s-eye view of Williams’ house and forest surroundings that ultimately transitions into a picture of distant galaxies – Bogancloch movingly pays homage to the solace and joy that can be found in the fact that the cosmos is vast, uncaring, and beautiful.'
Alan Mattli, FilmExplorer
