I’d never heard of this film until I saw it listed in Rachael Leigh Cook’s filmography on another DVD. After scouring the internet, I managed to find someone selling it for a bargain price, so thought I’d give it a go as it looked quite an interesting film.
Basically, the story begins with a guy in hospital suffering from amnesia, being interrogated by a female detective. He looks badly beaten and as his memory slowly returns, the detective is trying to piece together the events that lead up to his arrival at the hospital. Two of his friends are missing, and it transpires that the three of them were involved in a love triangle. The detective needs to untangle a web of jealousy and deception to get to the truth. To give anymore away would ruin the film for anyone who hasn’t seen it, but let’s just say that not everything is quite as it seems in this film. The best idea is just to sit down and watch it without knowing anymore of the background, and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
The style of the film is quite unusual. The story is told in a series of flashbacks, and while watching I was reminded of such films as Memento and Wild Things, where you’re never really sure what’s going to happen and you’re kept in the dark right until the very end. It’s stylishly filmed and there’s a great use of colour throughout the various different stages of the story. The film starts out very bright and colourful and then gets darker and darker as the proceedings take a turn and we go deeper into the tangled plot.
Rachael Leigh Cook is quickly becoming one of my favourite actresses. She gives a powerful performance in this film and, as always, she is drop dead gorgeous! On the other hand, the two male leads, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Shawn Hatosy, don’t exactly set the screen on fire but a special mention must go to Jonathan for quite a demanding performance, which does tend to go a bit over the top at times.
Overall, I found this film very enjoyable and was hooked throughout the entire running time. The ‘surprise’ ending is definitely well played out, even if you already guess it beforehand, and it’s a great pay-off after watching all the events unfold. If you haven’t seen it before, then you should definitely check it out (especially if you’re a fan of Rachael Leigh Cook!).
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
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
Detective Anders has a case to solve. She's got two missing persons, Alan and Jenny. They ... more
could be hurt, they could be dying. The only person who knows for sure is their best friend David, who is badly beaten and suffering from amnesia.As David's memor...
Aug 12th, 2003
very helpful by (36%):
helpful by (64%):
