Loki Actor Tom Hiddleston's Best Reviewed Movie Is A Forgotten 2010 Drama

Joanna Hogg earned widespread recognition for her 2019 film, the simmering and unforgettable "The Souvenir." Rightly so. Hogg's semi-autobiographical drama, based on her own experiences at film school, was the kind of film that stayed with you long after viewing and seemed to signal the arrival of a major force in filmmaking. Except, Hogg hadn't just arrived. She'd quietly been building a career as one of the most influential female directors ever since releasing her first film, 2007's "Unrelated." That drama starred a young Tom Hiddleston, four years before he appeared as Loki in 2011's "Thor," and enjoyed a very positive critical response. It made sense, then, for Hogg and Hiddleston to re-team for 2010's "Archipelago," which was nothing short of a critical triumph. Though it was far from a mainstream hit when it premiered, today it remains the best-reviewed movie of Hiddleston's career.

In 2010, the actor was on the verge of international stardom. But he hadn't quite got there yet. Hiddleston, who started out on TV back in 2001, actually made his film debut in Hogg's "Unrelated," after which he returned to TV with a recurring role on British series "Wallander." He didn't take another movie role until he reunited with Hogg for "Archipelago," after which he made his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut.

"Archipelago," however, couldn't have been further from "Thor." Like all of Hogg's films, her 2010 effort was a deeply affecting drama that focused on the quietly searing pain endured by an upper-middle-class British family who struggle to tolerate being in close quarters during a brief family vacation. 

"Archipelago" is easily one of Tom Hiddleston's best films. It stars Kate Fahy as Patricia who vacations with her two adult children, Edward (Hiddleston), and his older sister, Cynthia (Lydia Leonard) on the island of Tresco, part of the Isles of Scilly off the Cornish coast (the film was shot on location). It's all in aid of Edward, who's decided to quit his job in the city and travel to Africa, where he plans to work as a volunteer amid the ongoing AIDS crisis. But like the ill-defined job of "health counselor" that awaits, Edward isn't entirely sure what he's doing and seems rudderless in the tides of a personal crisis.

The judgmental Cynthia isn't helping matters, quietly belittling Edward's plans and making even a simple family dinner tough to get through due to her constant requests to switch tables and disapproval of the food on offer. Meanwhile, Patricia's estranged husband, who has been invited to attend, fails to materialize. Instead, the family are joined by a local painting teacher, Christopher (Christopher Baker), who provides art lessons, and a cook named Rose (Amy Lloyd) — neither of whom were quite prepared for the violent sea of repressed emotions that rages beneath the surface of the family's forced politeness.

That kind of British phlegmatism masking deep-seated resentments proved too much for Martin Scorsese, who in a 2022 conversation with Joanna Hogg (for Metrograph) revealed that he started "Archipelago" one night in 2011 only to turn it off after 15 minutes. But the director ultimately returned to the movie the next day after its characters refused to leave his mind. "I was quite stunned by it. I fell in love with it," he said — and he wasn't the only one.

"Archipelago" premiered at the 2010 Pusan International Film Festival ahead of its UK release in March the following year, earning widespread critical praise. But it took some time to arrive in the United States. When it did finally get a 2014 release stateside, the critics were just as impressed.

Despite the fact the film made just $512,636 according to Box Office Mojo, it bears an excellent 96% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. The New York Times' Manohla Dargis was overjoyed to see "Archipelago," "Unrelated," and Joanna Hogg's 2013 film "Exhibition" finally being distributed in the United States, urging New York-based readers to "run over to the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center and catch them now." Dargis was particularly impressed with "Archipelago," writing, "In scene after scene, meaning sneaks in and sometimes roars," and praising Hogg for her intentional use of certain camera angles to heighten the effect of her mournful drama.

Leslie Felperin of Variety was similarly complimentary, describing "Archipelago" as "a beautifully distilled and literally still work that lingers in the mind long after its conclusion." Long before she made "The Souvenir," then, Hogg was delivering powerful and affecting films that stand as a testament to the way in which she seemed to arrive as a fully-formed filmmaker. Perhaps most impressive is the fact that Hogg shows no signs of faltering, with her most recent film, the eerie A24 drama "The Eternal Daughter," currently standing at 95% on RT and representing one of Tilda Swinton's best movies (which is saying something). As such, Tom Hiddleston couldn't have a better project at the top of his best-reviewed list. The film is available to watch via the Kino Film Collection.