The Lawless Heart
**
Cinema Releases - August 2, 2002
Rated on a 4-star scale. Certificate 15. UK.
99 minutes. Written and directed by Neil Hunter, Tom Hunsinger. Starring
Douglas Henshall, Tom Hollander, Bill Nighy, Clementine Celarie, Josephine
Butler, Ellie Haddington, Stuart Laing, Sukie Smith, Dominic Hall, David
Coffie, June Barrie, Peter Symonds.
"The Lawless Heart" begins at a
funeral in a small Essex town, and proceeds to tell the story of the following
few days from the points of view of three different
characters.
Bill Nighy is Dan, a middle-aged farmer of average
means in an average marriage. We see him engage in some functional talk about
financial worries, go to a party, have a chat in the pub, and then get involved
in an unexpected sexual encounter -- one that is entered into as a fumbling
attempt at therapy, but ends up more a silly lapse.
Tom Hollander is Nick, the boyfriend of the dead
man. We see him engage in some functional discussion about financial worries,
find an unauthorised party going on his house, have a chat in the pub, have
his grieving interrupted by a woman who doesn't know his situation, and then
get involved in a sexual encounter -- one that is entered into as a fumbling
attempt at therapy, but ends up more a silly lapse.
Douglas Henshall is Tim, a guy who left town years
ago but doesn't know what to do next. We see him engage in some functional
reunions, arrange a party in Nick's house to impress a girl, have a sexual
encounter that is, well, sex, and then do nothing much else.
And that's the movie. But what's the point? I
don't mean the significance of it all, I just want to know why we're watching.
Each time a story gets interesting, the writer-directors, Neil Hunter and
Tom Hunsinger, decide to cut to that of the next character. Perhaps we're
just supposed to get something out of spending time with the personalities
onscreen, but there's not enough of a sense of life for us to be absorbed
that way. The actors are convincing, but in a conventionally dramatic way;
they don't transcend and become real people like the cast of Michael
Winterbottom's "Wonderland".
They are of course good actors, and they're watchable
enough to prevent the picture from becoming boring. Nighy is amusingly stiff
and uncertain about everything; he has the posture of an adult, but doesn't
seem sure of how to approach any subject. Hollander does the bereaved boyfriend
bit with admirable sincerity. Henshall, well meaning yet so slovenly and
thoughtless, has an amiable sort of Shaun Ryder thing going
on.
A few interesting quirks of acting, however, don't
make players involving enough to support an entire film. "The Lawless Heart"
is an exercise in refusing to pay the audience off. I wanted to see a story,
and all the film did was lead up to turning points before abandoning
them.
We do get the feeling that backstories and
relationships have been thought out, and that if the writers wanted to, they
could think up more events for these characters to find themselves in. "The
Lawless Heart" would perhaps make a watchable pilot for a drama series. As
a feature film, it's dull.
COPYRIGHT©
2002 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
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