The film is narrated by Kat who remembers her Mum going missing and how she and her father dealt with the situation. Her mother, played by Eva Green, simply disappeared one day and despite a two year police investigation, no trace of her was ever found.
Kat stays loyal to her Dad and offers insights into her parent’s loveless marriage which saw her Mum flirting with her teenage boyfriend and Dad taking solace in his large collection of jazz mags, which he keeps in a cupboard, secured with a special combination lock. Remember that for later!
Kat sees therapist Angela Bassett and their discussions give us clues to Mum’s fate. We also explore Kat’s dreams in which she sees her Mum in a Narnia style frozen world asking for help. Kat’s boyfriend is a bit thick using lines like ‘it’s a vicious circus’ sending Kat into the arms of Detective Thomas Jane who is investigating her Mum’s case. She also confides in her friends and, after returning home from college, she starts to try and learn the truth. Are some things best left undisturbed?
I enjoyed this mystery cum rites of passage film that saw Kat’s idealised version of events slowly be unwound. When she starts to have doubts she realises that all her friends had them too and indeed tried to convince her that her downtrodden Dad may know more than he was letting on.
The 80’s were well realised and I liked the soundtrack of 80’s British bands like Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys and Echo and the Bunnymen. Shailene was excellent in the lead and this was basically her film. I liked her sticking up for Dad but slowly realising that he might be a bit of a dick. The clues were rote large, with the outcome not too much of a surprise - but there were a couple of wrong foots, as the suspiciously padlocked freezer was slowly opened.
The supporting cast was great with poor old Tom Jane having to once again show his ‘Hung' swordsman credentials. Nice work if you can get it. It was also good to see Laura Palmer show up as Dad’s new squeeze, although we could have seen more of her than the couple of scenes she got.
I think the film lost it’s nerve towards the end - I was quite happy with the mystery being unsolved - that’s the way most disappearances end up. Instead they went into pretty graphic detail regarding the fate of Mum and the motivation behind it. You could argue the clues were there, but there again Dad was a fan of ‘Hustler’ not something with a more male leaning!
The film was a tight 90 minutes and I liked it’s jaded melancholy feel with the world going to shit and no one able or willing to do much about it. The last act could have been handled better but I liked the mystery and detection angles and when set against a backdrop of 80’s music and fashion you have a definite winner on your hands.
Best Bit : Tom Does Some Detective Work ‘W’ rating 18/23
No comments:
Post a Comment