Hoard: Luna Carmoon on her primal, uncompromising new teen drama

“I don’t like a lot of British films now,” utters Luna Carmoon with a sigh. “They feel pattern-cut. Particularly for the world that I’m from, working-class cinema doesn’t do it for me now.” Born in Lewisham, Carmoon is the 26-year-old writer and director of Hoard, a semi-autobiographical debut feature that, unlike other British movies, is both thrillingly esoteric and grounded in recognisable emotions. “I detest when people call my stuff social realism,” she continues. “No one would say that about Joanna Hogg, even though that’s Tilda Swinton and her daughter having a conversation in a kitchen. It’s because I sound like this that I get pigeonholed.”

While Hoard is very much a British feature, it unfolds with an experimental, European arthouse sensibility, even winning three prizes at last year’s Venice Film Festival. In April, in a London meeting room, Pret sandwich in hand, Carmoon is telling me about the British cinema from the 60s and 70s she actually adores, like Walkabout, The Long Good Friday, and Mona Lisa. “It feels like we’re so far from that,” she says. “I just want to make gross things that 14-year-old me would want to come across on Putlocker after school.”

Starting off in 1984, Hoard introduces a loving household that might, admittedly, be labelled “gross”, if not outright dangerous. Raised by a single mother, Cynthia (Hayley Squires), seven-year-old Maria (Lily-Beau Leach) is known as the kid at school who doesn’t wash. Whatever her classmates might assume, it’s somewhat worse: when Maria identifies dead, tangled rodents beneath the carpet, her mother laughs it off as “Rat King”. In each room, the stacks of discarded, decaying belongings – pilfered from bins, tips, and alleyways over the years – tower over an oblivious child living in her own magical world, albeit one where Rat King is part of the fairy tale’s rotting fabric.

As two wounded adults who were denied a conventional upbringing, Maria and Michael are inevitably perfect and imperfect for each other. About to have a child with his girlfriend, Michael recognises instability within Maria and the pair play-fight around the living room, almost knocking over ornaments during what’s practically a mating ritual. Making her movie debut, Lightfoot Leon is a 26-year-old newcomer who was never given the script in advance. In contrast, Quinn, 30, is about to become one of the biggest actors in the world. Recently announced as a member of the Fantastic Four, Quinn shot Hoard before he found overnight fame as Eddie Munson from Stranger Things.

“Michael can’t help but pick at Maria’s wound, and she picks at his,” says Quinn, sat next to Lightfoot Leon. “They’re emotionally bleeding everywhere, and all over each other. In a brief moment of time, it’s comforting to not feel like you’re suffering by yourself, but it’s unsustainable.”

“Maria’s trying to reach someone who she misses, who she loves, who in a strange way she’ll never see again,” says Lightfoot Leon. “Death is absurd. She’s at an early stage of grief where she’s just in pain, and everything is turned upside-down after that knock on the door.”

“The feelings that lust, love, and desire bring in us… It isn’t a rational part of our brain. It’s that animal part. Whilst there’s room for Jane Austen, Chaucer, and romances that feel more restrained, this is far from that – it’s a fully-fledged, primal swing at desire” – Joseph Quinn

“Luna is a pretty open person who’s endured a lot in her life,” says Quinn. “And we were very forthcoming with the experiences we’ve had in relationships. You’ve got to bring your experiences as a human being – ugh, a human being.” He grimaces at his wording. “It’s revolting but it’s true. In these work environments, you’ve got to tap into things that feel authentic. Luna was so brave talking about her experiences and vulnerability, and the film allowed us to meet her there.”

With Maria and Michael in denial, the pair’s relationship unravels gradually through physical mannerisms, whether it’s sitting too close to the other, or, eventually, a literal exploration of each other’s wounds. While Carmoon storyboarded the whole film, she opted for minimal rehearsal time to maximise spontaneity. Some sequences were just unscripted: Michael hiding and surprising Maria in the house; a food fight involving shepherd’s pie. I suggest that the film’s looseness is how Hoard successfully conveys raw desire between its two leads.

“It’s true,” says Carmoon. “A lot of things are diluted now. My favourite films are where you see people be ugly.” She describes a scene in The Night Porter from 1974 that involves a sensuous meshing of blood and jam between a former Nazi officer and prisoner. “It’s heinous. It’s evil. But there’s so much desire that it’s like a spell they’re under. You don’t condone it, but you can’t detest it, either, because we’re human.” She rattles off more favourites, like Paul Verhoeven’s Spetters and Turkish Delight. “It’s something we don’t have a lot of in British film now. We’re repressed.”

“The feelings that lust, love, and desire bring in us, it taps into that primitive, primal part of us as human beings,” says Quinn. “It can be something destructive like spitting or biting. It isn’t a rational part of our brain. It’s that animal part. Whilst there’s room for Jane Austen, Chaucer, and romances that feel more restrained, this is far from that – it’s a fully-fledged, primal swing at desire.”

After all, Hoard includes a recreation of a scene from the 1979 film The Tin Drum in which two children spit in sherbet powder and lick it up. Carmoon, of course, shoots Quinn and Lightfoot Leon performing a similar act for real. “It’s not disgusting,” says Carmoon. “It’s actually childlike. I knew this film would land better with European audiences, and Brits might be like, ‘This is gross!’ I’m like, ‘Do you watch German cinema? Do you watch French cinema?’

“When everyone went crazy over Saltburn, I was like, ‘Have you seen The Night Porter? Have you seen The Devils by Ken Russell?’ I’ve done nothing new in terms of stuff like that. If you actually watch films, that’s how we are. It’s like people want to pretend worlds and certain spaces don’t exist. I think everyone should get on Putlocker, have a good, deep dive, and then come back to the table. Deep down, it’s what we want to be watching.”

Hoard is out in UK cinemas on May 17