Somewhere, either on a forgotten hard drive or in pieces on the floor of an editing room, is the movie that The Souvenir should have been. What writer/director Joanna Hogg instead gives to audiences seems to be made up of all the moments before and after the actual scenes of tension and romance between a budding filmmaker (Honor Swinton Byrne, daughter of Tilda Swinton) and her older, heroin-addicted lover (Tom Burke, entirely charmless). It feels like a dull reflection of real life with all the interesting bits snipped out. In that way, the film almost becomes experimental, but viewing it from that perspective is hardly enough to make up for its slow pace, grindingly boring conversations, and a relationship that lacks any sort of chemistry, sexual or otherwise. Supposedly there’s a sequel on the way, co-starring Robert Pattinson. There’s nowhere to go but up. by Robert Ham