Mister Foe

Hallam Foe

United Kingdom

2007

95 Min

Color

2.35:1

English

Currently 3.3/5 Stars.
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EXEC Leonard Crooks, Matthew Justice, David Mackenzie, Peter Carlton, Carole Sheridan, Lenny Crooks, Peter Touche, Duncan Reid

SCR David Mackenzie, Ed Whitmore, Peter Jinks

CAST Jamie Bell, Sophia Myles, Claire Forlani, Ciarán Hinds, Jamie Sives, Ewen Bremner, Maurice Roëves, Ruth Milne, John Paul Lawler, Lucy Holt, Paul Blair

MUSIC King Creosote, Junior Boys, The Pastels, Psapp

Berlinale (Competition): Best Music, Edinburgh (Opening Night), SXSW (Spotlight Premieres)

Synopsis

With Hallam Foe, British director Peter MacKenzie and scripter Ed Whitmore adapt the 2002 novel of the same name, a quirky, bittersweet, coming-of-age psychodrama by Peter Jinks. The titular character is the 17-year-old son (Jamie Bell) of a wealthy Scottish businessman (Ciarán Hinds). Still rattled by the death of his mom (who drowned in a nearby loch), Hallam retreats into a deep-seated fantasy world. He harbors amorous feelings for his new stepmother, Verity (Claire Forlani), until he gradually concludes that she murdered his biological mother. Hallam nonetheless lets himself be seduced into an affair with Verity, and is so repulsed by this transpiration that he flees to Edinburgh. His life turns a corner, however, when he spots – and instantly becomes infatuated with – Kate (Sophia Myles), a local girl who bears an uncanny resemblance to his mother. After he talks her into giving him a routine job in the kitchen of the hotel that she manages, they become romantically involved, ever so gradually, which spells trouble for Hallam’s emotional state by thoroughly overwhelming and confusing him – and deeper trouble still when Kate’s married lover (Jamie Sives) discovers that Hallam has been spying diligently on Kate from his perch in a nearby bell tower. Ewen Bremner co-stars as the bellhop supervisor at the hotel. —IMDb

Director

David Mackenzie

Born and raised in Scotland, David Mackenzie started his film career making short films. He first won an award for California Sunshine (1997), a 20-minute film about a pair of small-time drug dealers that starred his younger brother, actor Alastair Mackenzie. In 1999 he won an Audience Award at the Brest European Short Film Festival for Marcie’s Dowry (1999), then in 2000, he placed second for Best Short Film at the Dresden Film Festival for Somersault (1999).

Having completed nine shorts and a documentary, Mackenzie’s first feature length film was the small budget The Last Great Wilderness (2002), which he co-wrote with his brother and Michael Tait (Alastair also starred). But David didn’t gain international attention until he wrote and directed Young Adam (2004), based on the 1954 novel by Alexander Trocchi. Starring Ewan McGregor and Tilda Swinton, the film won the Best New British Feature award at the 2003 Edinburgh International… read more

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AdamantCocoon

30Jan12

Bloated and hollow in the narrative, but psychological and aural vascularity are so heady they're worth the schnitzel. Jamie Bell is a marvel.

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Westley

11Jan12

Some very nice photography and editing. Unfortunately, the story isn't very good. Hallam isn't a very compelling character. A lot of quirk for the sake of quirk. A lot of trite, half-baked oedipal ideas and too much melodrama. David Mackenzie has made some very good movies, but this isn't one of them.