Monday, October 15, 2012
WATCH WHAT IS GOING ON
Today's film was Andrea Arnold's
I had seen this before and gave it a 5. I saw it again today because it has Martin Compston, a young Scottish actor, in it and I like to watch him. He was most recently seen in Guide to Recognizing Your Saints. I will watch him again tomorrow in his first film.
This movie is about surveillance. Our heroine runs cameras in the central control room of the highly sophisticated and scary UK teevee watch system. Cameras everywhere.
And she has a grudge. Which she may not be aware of having until she sees the image of the man who has killed her husband and daughter in a freak auto accident. He had been in prison and is now out on early release.
As our watcher takes her watch outside the control room, she plots a revenge to get him back into prison.
A lot of points are made about watching but not didactically. We see rather than listen to a story about the ominous machines involved.
All the performances here are first rate. Compston is the buddy of the guy just out of the can. Vivid. Tough.
I liked it all over again.
It has a lot of story to tell and does it very well. There is more than a little dread in the runup to the ending and then a great clearing of the air in the finale. You will have a tough time getting there.
I believe that there is real heterosexual sex that happens in this film. Not simulated. All the parts visibly exposed and used to good or bad purpose depending on your perspective. It is a bit unsettling but that may tell more about me than about the film itself.
Great photography and, yes, you will need subtitles. It is filmed in Glasgow and has a strong Scottish flavor.
I will continue it as a 5 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
