Writer/director Babak Anvari definitely studied at the altar of Alfred Hitchcock.
This twisty little thriller, co-scripted with Namsi Khan, messes with audience expectations much the way Psycho did, back in 1960.
 |
| After realizing that their latest "victim" isn't what he seems, Toby (George MacKay, right) intends to investigate further ... but his best friend Jay (Percelle Ascott) wants no part of that. |
(One suspects, however, that they’re not above nicking an item or two that catches their fancy.)
They’re quite adept, having learned how to pick locks and bypass home alarm systems; the adrenaline rush also is a major part of the thrill.
“Fighting the system” is all that Toby cares about, much to the dismay of his mother, Lizzie (Kelly Macdonald), a professional counselor who (irony intended) hasn’t the faintest idea how to connect with her own son. Toby, in turn, is rude and disrespectful, but also inclined to random acts of kindness; he isn’t beyond recognizing right from wrong.
Jay is brought up short when his girlfriend Naz (Varada Sethu) announces that she’s pregnant. This reality check prompts him to renounce his clandestine partnership with Toby, even though they’ve already cased their next victim: Sir Hector Blake (Hugh Bonneville), a former high court judge who lives alone in a large home in Dulwich.
Frustrated and feeling betrayed, Toby invades Sir Hector’s home on his own, prepares to tag a wall … and then is distracted by a noise from the basement. He heads downstairs, pokes around, and …
… but that would be telling.
Suffice to say, there may have been a reason Sir Hector suddenly resigned from the judiciary, after a sterling career spent helping immigrants.
The final key player in what soon becomes a sinister mystery is Det. Sgt. Ella Lloyd (Franc Ashman), who doesn’t need much convincing to decide that Sir Hector is a Rather Suspicious Character. But since his friends include her boss (Anthony Calf), her efforts to investigate are discouraged.
No question: The set-up is enticing, and the execution moves in crafty, edge-of-the-seat directions.
Bonneville’s role and performance are likely to surprise folks who know him solely as Robert Grantham, on Downton Abbey. That said, his Sir Hector is equally aristocratic, with an affable “public face” that makes him an enjoyable companion. Behind closed doors, though, the congeniality vanishes so thoroughly, that we wonder if it ever existed at all.
Bonneville’s gaze turns pensive, calculating and reptilian; his watchful eyes miss nothing (such as the fact that Toby left a painting slightly off-kilter). Sir Hector clearly would be the smartest person in any room, and he’s smugly certain of this.
MacKay’s Toby is impulsive to the point of recklessness. He’s also quite anxious: likely aware that he has maintained this “vigilante tagger” role for too long, but panicked because he doesn’t know what else to do with his life.
Toby isn’t very likable, at first blush; MacKay makes him insufferably rude and arrogant, and a total jerk for the way he treats his mother. Yet MacKay also adds a note of desperation and vulnerability, when Toby realizes that he needs to step up, and do the right thing. (What that “right thing” is, however, isn’t immediately clear.)
Macdonald, always a thoroughly engaging performer, makes Lizzie beaten and world-weary: possibly the last person who should be counseling others. Lizzie drinks too much; her taut features and deadened eyes bespeak years of pain and disappointment, with too many emotional battles lost along the way.
Ascott’s Jay is totally cool, particularly with his awareness that impending fatherhood demands maturity, planning … and caution. He may not have been the best boyfriend up to this point, but he’s determined to do better. And Ascott skillfully handles Jay’s anguished regret when Toby spitefully accuses him of disloyalty.
At 110 minutes, this film feels slightly padded and self-indulgent, which blunts the tension at times. We’d really be biting our nails, if Anvari and editor Matyas Fekete had tightened things up a bit.
Isobel Waller-Bridge’s droning, overloud synth score brings nothing to the party; indeed, it’s often distracting. A score should enhance on-screen events, not supersede them.
Even so, this is an effective little thriller that should satisfy viewers seeking creepy late-evening entertainment.
No comments:
Post a Comment