I could not sleep last night, and at 2am I awoke and decided to go and watch some television, within minutes I was drawn to the movie I Want You, a title I remembered but were a little uncertain as to why. Within a few seconds however my mind rushed back through time as the story, (one I was little interested in at the time) came flooding back even though it had been ten years since I last saw it.
I Want You seem's very much the sort of movie you would have seen on Channel Four back in the 1980's, a little airy, with a level of confidence that is really not deserved. The most prominent thought that stands in my mind about the movie is that it seems a little dirty, the characters chiefly, but the movies location seems a little unpleasant and even inbred, it's the sort of place that you might visit and immediately feel this sinister underbelly over everything.
The film is chiefly seen through the eyes of a young Yugoslavian boy called Honda (Luka Petrusic), Honda has not spoken for many years, ever since discovering his mother dead in the bath, now he lives in Dungeoness with his sister, pier singer Smokey (Labina Metevska). Honda is obsessed with sound and has acquired an extensive collection of recording devises which he uses to snoop into the lives
of others. It's through his love of sound that he stumbles upon Helen (Rachel Weisz), a young heir and Salon owner. Honda infatuated with Helen sets about becoming her friend, but this relationship is soon put to the test when Martin (Alessandro Nivola), an old flame from Helen's past returns, and it seems the two shares a terrible secret.
I Want You is a very deceptive movie, there is rather a lot going on, but at the same time little story development, things just trudge along for more or less the movies whole running time; somehow however it seems like a movie you do not want to turn away from.
Everyone is slightly creepy or unusually uncomfortable with either themselves or their sexuality, all except the sexually uninhibited Smokey who knows who and what she is, and cares little about the views of others as she takes random club goers home with her for a night of sex and debauchery. Helen most of all has this issue with sex, during the five years since Martin has gone she has dated many a man, but had sex with none of them, this all seems like too much of a terrible taboo. Despite her fear of sex, she sends out some very sexual signals to the men who find her appealing, only stopping them in the final moments before sex occurs, an issue that at the mid section of the movie nearly goes very badly wrong for her. Meanwhile Martin engages in a variety of unpleasant looking sexual encounters with local call girl Sonja. I'd not say the sex is explicit, but what you see is more than what you might like, and because of the dirtiness of the films style everyone looks like a potential carrier of some nasty sexual disease, and certainly protection is far from anyone's mind.
There are several undisclosed elements of the movie, such as who is the old man (Graham Crowden) who seems to spend his days with the Yugoslavian brother and sister. Martin strikes up a strange relationship with Smokey, and this of course includes Honda and the old man, but there is no explanation for this. Meanwhile nasty looking Dungeoness' local radio station a fairly small fry set up, seems to be incredibly overstaffed. Dungeoness is offered as a place with a small community, yet they have pretty large scale offerings like a magnificent sea life centre. While Helen lives in a large house complete with Olympic size swimming pool, it seems that everyone else lives in cabins on the beach, and not very nice ones at that. Despite all these rutting facts and unexplained issues the movie has a lot of character about it, and if you can see beyond the rather self important aspects of the movie, that you feel within minutes of switching on then you will be captivated by this movie whether it's your style of movie or not.
The most compelling aspect of the movie is how all the pieces fit together, how the relationships specifically that between Helen and Honda all fit together, they all seem so very wrong, the Helen/Honda relationship seems at times almost to tread the boards of child abuse, is it sexual or just a straight forward and innocent relationship? The one undeniable fact is that as the movie draws to a close, and whatever your views on the movie as it takes you to its final destination, you'll never see what's coming next, and the harsh ending really takes you not only by surprise, but gives you the thirst for much more than the movie dares to show you.
Made in 1998 the movie is directed by Michael Winterbottom, the director of The Road To Guantanamo, 24 Hour Party People, and the abysmal 9 Songs; I Want You has the story aspects of The Road To Guantanamo, and the sexual thirst of 9 Songs; it's cast of familiar faces specifically Weisz going on sexual journeys you never expected them to take.
I Want You, is currently unavailable on DVD or Video, though you might stumble upon an old deleted version on Ebay or Amazon. For those with Sky, its shown on their movie channels about once a week.
Spencer Hawken 10/08
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Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
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