Hallam Foe: This Is My Story

Mister Foe is another "indie coming of age dramedy" with a hip indie soundtrack about a charismatic teen with psychological problems. Hallam is a film about a boy who misses his dead mother and ends up striking up a relationship with a women who looks like her. Normally films handle the Oedipus complex a little tactfully but Mister Foe goes right for it and pulls no punches. Even after they set it up they go to the well once too often. Each character has a broadly drawn idea of their personality but we never get a sense of who they are. The fact that both of them have such emotional baggage is what is supposed to make it interesting, but they have that baggage because the film says they do. The baggage exists to create the characters and not that characters exist because of the baggage. At the end the character development seems to serve the plot more the the characters themselves. The best parts of this film is the voyeurism angle and even that seems to get lost in the shuffle and even downplayed to other aspects like a weak and unnecessary family drama in addition to a murder mystery that it seems even David Mackenzie tries to downplay and holds off as long as he can. Jamie Bell does give a great performance as Hallam playing a somber yet energetic teenager even if he doesn't have much to work with. David Mackenzie also does a great job of framing the film with some beautiful backdrops and backgrounds. It seems his weakest aspect is filming characters as his character moments are flat and uninteresting with the backgrounds being what gives it flare. Mister Foe is a character study of caricatures. It is fun and odd but at the same time shallow.

This is one of the overlooked gems of indie cinema that make you happy to find it.

Our friend Hallam Foe is a Scottish youth, upset over the suicide of his mother and the ascendancy of his stepmother. After various confrontations in his home town, mostly brought on by spying on the locals, he flees to London and begins a stalker type of romance with a hotel worker who looks like his deceased mother.

The charm of this movie is in the witty dialog, Hallam's unexpected cleverness, and his determination to confront his own issues. Even though his actions would be somewhat creepy in an older or less charming person, you can sympathize with him and hope that he somehow manages to cope with life in the big city. The film starts out kind of slow and confused but gets together about 30 minutes in and becomes clear. The ending is especially good, being just about what you would expect to happen in real life.

There is a real overtone of romance in this movie, making it a good date film, and a couple of clever sex scenes that are graphic without being explicit: there isn't much skin on display, but what's going on is obviously no-holds-barred humping.

Guys will like this film for Hallam's cleverness and determination, girls will like it for the offbeat romance, and everyone will groove to it for the quirkiness. See it, you'll be happy you did.

Excellent performances, including a beautiful one by the city of Edinburgh, are what make this erratic movie worth seeing. Jamie Bell is very endearing, and demonstrates a wide emotional range (compare and contrast dull American actors like Ryan Phillippe and Matt Damon). He's well supported by, amongst others, Sophia Myles, Jamie Sives, that wonderful old stager Maurice Roeves and, in an splendid cameo, Ewan Bremner.

The story loses itself in unconvincing melodrama towards the end, which is a pity. Up till then it's an eccentric, entertainingly wayward affair, with a sparky script, good photography and lively editing.

Excellent and spot on movie. Not only is this so well directed and acted, it has a difficult story to tell and convinces us 100% time. It is certainly in part the performance of Jamie Bell that helps us take this story of a peeping tom hero on board so effortlessly, but because everything else also buzzes so authentically, we can only conclude that , for once, we have a superb script. I didn't notice one word of dialogue that jarred and this when we have such taboo items up for discussion and for the doing of! Bell as mentioned is excellent but so are all the cast and because I do mean all we have to conclude that Mr Mackenzie has a rare actor directing skill. Sophia Myles is also well worthy of mention, and seems capable of disarming changes that always seem likely to catch one off guard. Funny, affecting, stimulating, sexy, stylish and not a little alarming. Do not miss this movie.

Since Hallam's (Jamie Bell) mother died two years ago, he has detached himself from life, watching (even spying) the people from a distance, going as far as breaking in and searching their closets. He despises his stepmother (a surprisingly matured Claire Forlani) who he suspects of having murdered his mom. So Hallam takes off from the Scottish countryside to Glasgow, where he prowls the roofs, and finds a girl eerily resembling his mother. Revealing more of the story wouldn't do it justice. Jamie Bell masterfully plays an angry young man, reminiscing of Holden Caulfield. The film creates magical sequences, sports a wry northern humour, and doesn't shy away from exploring the feeling of loss and pain. Although the plot background relies too much on textbook psychology, HALLAM FOE remains a kindhearted, lively drama beyond the streamline tearjerkers. 7/10