BOY A
This strikingly if bleakly shot British film tells the story of 24-year-old Jack Burridge (a sensitive performance by Andrew Garfield), a shy Mancunian delivery van driver freshly released from prison after serving 14 years for a murder committed when he was only 10 years old. After rescuing a young girl from a car crash, the man-boy Jack becomes a local hero, but the attendant publicity threatens the anonymity of his new identity. Simultaneously, two important relationships - his first, fledgling love affair with a lusty co-worker, Michelle (Katie Lyons); and his friendship with Terry (Peter Mullan), his caseworker - highlight issues of trust, love and need in Jack's life - as do the flashbacks which gradually flesh out Jack's past, and the terrible crime another friendship led him to commit. Boy A is a subdued, sombre and evocative film about redemption and despair that I found hard to fault, and which had me wiping away tears at its conclusion.
LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
Based on a popular Swedish novel which I now want to read more than ever, Let The Right One In tells the story of Oscar, a bullied 12 year old boy who gradually develops a close friendship with Eli, a strange young girl who's just moved into the apartment next door. Just how strange she is we learn after her elderly guardian attacks a young man and drains his blood for her. Eli only looks 12 - she's actually much older; and she's a vampire. This poetic, subdued film is far from your average horror movie, and uses silence and stillness to great effect right from its opening scenes, counterbalanced with occasional moments of frenetic intensity - such as a standout scene in which we learn that cats hate vampires... While I had occasional problems with its pacing, overall I enjoyed this coming-of-age story given a magic realist/horror twist.
3 comments:
I too saw Boy A and found it really moving (wrote up thumbnail reviews of the films I saw at MIFF on my blog). I also really wanted to see Let The Right One In, but couldn't make either of the session times. Great reviews!
The novel Let the Right One In is great - obviously much more room for character development. What's really exciting is the translation of his zombie novel is meant to be out this year!
I also really enjoyed Boy A.
Although I found it hard to understand what would drive him to commit such a violent crime which lead to him being sent to jail for 14 years, but when released, he was an intelligent, kind and thoughtful young man?
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