Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by sjb (A) on November 18, 2007 at 08:48:17

What a sharp, tight, powerful film. The acting, writing, direction, editing and cinematography are all superb as is the way all the overlapping stories are told and resolved.

This is the rarest of films... one that trusts its audience. Case in point (warning SPOILER ahead... ) the horses. Showing them early on and then letting us quickly see a picture of them in the red book to tell us that the "crazy" lawyer was onto something with his idea that bringing down U/North was fate and/or somehow divinely inspired (most movies would highlight the picture in the book and/or show us a flashback of that moment, thereby spoiling the moment for those who actually pay attention). As such I liked the way - with the fate theme - it casually mixed metaphysical ideas in with a taut crime thriller.

This is a film for adults, if for no other reason than the attention required to get the most out of it.

Tom Wilkinson has certainly garnered himself a supportng actor nomination and Clooney'll probably get a best actor nomination.

The other standout performance to me was Tilda Swinton. Hers was a subtle, understated but powerful portrayel of a woman who's decided to sell her soul and repress any feelings for the sake of making it big in man's world. It's a 24 hour a day job for her to keep her composure and keep those feeling and fears repressed and she plays it brilliantly right up through to the ending when she starts subtly (and there's a trick) shaking uncontrollably.

Someone here said that her performance was one dimensional and not up to par but for me at least the fact that she was able to tell us so much about the nuances of her character with so little screentime is a testament to her skill and her performance.

"You can safely assume you have created God in your own image when he hates all the same people you do."

Edits: 11/18/07