I, Anna

I was tempted to give this 10/10 simply to compensate for the idiots who gave this film 1 and 2 out of 10. I didn't ultimately but it gives me the sh*ts when I see people unfairly rating down a film. With an average 6/10 I might not have watched this - and it was a genuinely decent film. The story is coherent and the plot competent. The way in which the central event of the film is slowly revealed is sophisticated and worked well. Both Charlotte Rampling and Gabriel Byrne are top rate leading actors and both do a good job. Rampling's performance was particularly convincing. Casting mature actors in these lead roles (without making a big thing about it) was quite believable and worked really well. The setting, the cinematography, the late-night London insomniac noir all create a compelling atmosphere. It's a genre film and, as such, isn't fabulously original, but is nonetheless well worth watching.

Great atmospherics. A good take on aging and isolation. Rampling is superb as an older-middle aged, lonely divorcé entering the dating scene. Byrne fantastic as the flawed, troubled detective, trying to track down the killer of a sleazy drug dealer.

My "but" here is Rampling's character Anna. She has a back story, to be sure. Her use of public pay phones -- where would you even find them even in London of eight years ago? -- hints at this. So does the never-seen bedroom in her apartment. So far, so good. But the reveal is a five-second shot in a police station, which I almost missed if I had not paused and gone back a minute or two. And the eventual expansion of that bit of information in the last 15 minutes of the movie is ambiguous at best.

Byrne's detective is not given much of a story either. He has separated from his wife and living in a central London hotel -- kind of expensive for his presumed salary, I think -- but that's all we know. The plot involving the first suspect, a 15-year old step son of the victim, seems a bit tacked on.

That said, the directing and cinematography is haunting. London's brutalist Barbican development looks cold and mildly sinister. (Americans may think it is a low income housing project but the residents are actually middle class, professional types).

One of the spookiest scenes: Anna is in the ladies room at the Hilton, where the speed dating takes place. She encounters a much older woman, perhaps in her 70s, over dressed, too much makeup, and far too old for the crowd outside, who encourages Anna to "go for it." Just 30 seconds of the movie but I keep thinking, what's HER story? Is she even real? Restroom advice is always pretty bad in movies -- think of the Shining and Jack Nicholson' chat with the bartender -- but this proves to be a pivotal point in the film.

So great acting. Excellent directing. This movie would warrant a nine on my star-scale, were it not for the script.

I, Anna is an above average film noir atmospherically filmed in London. The usual noir elements are present: the cop with a failed marriage, the female suspect with whom the cop falls in love, nice use of London locations and cinematography to match it. The two leads are expertly played by seasoned actors Gabriel Byrne and Charlotte Rampling. It is a promising debut for Barnaby Southcombe, who has added a new element in his adaptation of the source novel, which has given greater depth to the story and characters.

A trivia point: Barnaby Southcombe is the real life son of Charlotte Rampling!

The erroneous synopsis to this stylish if slightly flawed thriller, does not do the intricate, complex story the justice it deserves. Barnaby Southcombe's debut feature is an adaption of Elsa Lewin's dark novel of the same name. Shot in various locations around London, it unravels the story of the relationship between a high ranking detective (Gabriel Byrne) investigating the murder of a no good low life, and a middle aged divorcée, Charlotte Rampling, with whom he develops a potentially damaging obsession. The film unfolds slowly but is worth the wait. The film engages the viewer as the pace quickens and story intensifies and things just gets better and better. Strong performances from the two stars as one would expect. A wonderful vehicle for Charlotte Rampling to prove a woman over 50 can be just as sexy and alluring as any 25 year old, she is totally convincing as the fragile, complex protagonist. And a real treat to have Eddie Marsan on screen, every film is improved by his presence, never puts a foot wrong, superb. London is a stylish but never overwhelming backdrop to this pleasing contemporary film noir. And a cracking soundtrack too...

Small film made for TV. Very well done. Charlotte is great at playing the disturbed. I felt a disturbance in the force.