Wahre Lügen

Oh, what a difference bad casting decision can make. " Where the truth lies" had such a great potential. Two very strong leading actors, Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth, intriguing story, creative director, but... The catastrophic acting of Alison Lohman sabotaged the whole thing. The utter lack of artistic presence, wobbly, girlish voice, completely at odds with the part. There are thousands of talented young actresses, and why in the world would you cast her. There was no saving this movie after that bad decision. Two leading protagonists were doing their very best, lovely camera work brought us back to the times long gone. But to no avail.What a shame.

I was engrossed by the premise. Kevin Bacon, Colin Firth and a dead girl in a bathtub. To see Firth and Bacon go through the steps of a sort of Jerry Lewis Dean Martin routine was, in itself, reason enough to see the movie. On top of that, a director like Egoyan. I was hooked but immediately, regrettably unhooked every time Alison Lohman opened her mouth. Who could possibly believe it? That character should exude intelligence other than sensual vibes. Miss Lohman doesn't exude either and makes the whole premise collapse. Imagine a young Jodie Foster or now Natalie Portman or even Rachel McAdams in those shoes. That was a pivotal part The whole believability of the premise depended on her. Because of her performance I saw the cracks in everyone else's performance. So the experience, for me, was a series of exhilarating rushes and disappointing stops. Who said that casting was 90% responsible for the success of a film?. Whoever said it was right. Here the truth lies at the feet of a casting director and of a director for casting.

I saw the movie today at the 2nd showing of the Toronto International Film Festival.... The movie will be released in Canada in the way that I had seen it today, uncensored and uncut.

The scene in question isn't explicit at all, well the part that the MPAA is crying about that implies that one of the characters as being homosexual, there's no full frontal male nudity, a lot of female nudity from Alison Lohman, Rachael Blanchard, and Kristin Adams there is some interaction between Lohman and Adams but it is done tastefully..

So again, if it doesn't get played in your market and you can get to Canada go see the movie....

Another great work by Atom Egoyan, based on the novel by Rupert Holmes.

Knowing a little about the plot before seeing the film my big question/concern was "Kevin Bacon"? Going in I just didn't see Bacon in such a roll. But it didn't take long before Egoyan's primary cast selection (including Kevin Bacon, Colin Firth, and Alison Lohman) was clearly calculated and well thought.

Some might call this Egoyan's 'most mainstream' work to date, but it retains many of the qualities we've come to expect from him. The screenplay was precisely developed to provide a great pace to the story, and to provide little 'bits and pieces' of key information just when you need them. It doesn't give the truth away too early, yet when the secret is finally revealed it's accompanied by a sense of "I should have seen that coming".

This film does deal with some 'touchy' cinematic subjects including sex and drug use. What should be truly disturbing is the murder in question, but 'simple' murder is accepted in film without a second thought.

The screening I saw was the 'uncut' version of the film. There has apparently been some controversy surrounding some of the films content, so I don't know whether this is the version the movie-going public will eventually see in mass-market theatres. It contained some pretty graphic sex, but it wasn't gratuitous - it served a purpose in the development of the characters and story. These scenes, while clearly not suitable for a younger audience, belong in this film.

An excellent film, as most have come to expect from Egoyan.

Egoyan's weakest film, at least since he came to prominence with Exotica. It's actually a somewhat interesting mystery, but it has a lot of flaws. There is a death, possibly a murder, in the hotel suite of two famous comedians (played by Colin Firth and Kevin Bacon), based on Martin and Lewis. That's the film's biggest flaw, that this completely fictional mystery uses Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis as a model. It's very distracting. The bulk of the story has a young journalist (Alison Lohman) writing the story of the two comedians, trying to solve the mystery. The film-making is pretty good, but Egoyan, except for The Sweet Hereafter, has always been a weak director when it comes to actors. Lohman, who was great in Ridley Scott's Matchstick Men, is awful here (she does get naked and have sex with a woman, though, which makes the film almost worth seeing). Kevin Bacon, who gave his best performance ever last year in the still underseen The Woodsman, isn't especially good, either. Only Firth does a good job. The film is also overscored with some very cliché mystery music. Mychael Danna's scores for Exotica and The Sweet Hereafter were brilliant; this one's a flop.