La sombra del intruso

I'm a big fan of Kelly Lynch and in this little movie she did it again she can act.The story is good and the action is fast enough to keep you interest going.Joe Mantegna and an actress I never heard of Naomi Watts did a fairly good job.J.T Walsh os fantastic again.I'm going to miss him a lot he was a great actor.So movie fans if you got the chance to see this movie in a video store try it it's worth the rental fee.Enjoy

This is about a heist gone bad, and Joe Mantagna does his usual adequate job, perhaps not quite as animated as he is in "Jerry and Tom". It may not move along fast enough for some viewers, and the downbeat score keeps it low key. A lot of time is spent on his relationhips with the 2 sisters involved in the heist. But the plot gets interesting, and it's worth a few rental bucks. It's better than Portraits of a Killer, but not quite as good as Route 9 or Phoenix.

Although "Persons Unknown" is no classic, I must admit I just loved it. It's been a while since I was really emotionaly involved with a movie (not since my viewing 10 months ago of Alfred cheung's "On The Run"). The bad guys are a little to caricatural to my taste but the drama surounding the Joe Montagna character really moved me (what can I say, I am a sucker for "characters with a past"). The score, acting and photography are also flawless.

Around 1997 while flicking through cable channels I caught the pier scene in this movie and was instantly hooked. The blonde actress in the wheel chair had an incredible presence even just in profile. I did not know who the actress was but immediately wanted to. I checked and she was Naomi Watts (Jet Girl from "Tank Girl" ?). From that moment I was certain that she was destined to become a star. And it sure looked that way in 1997 as a rising young ingenue.

But then for three years her career lost all momentum and sank into a series of minor roles in forgettable movies punctuated by huge gaps of unemployment before David Lynch pitched her that fast ball over the middle she had been waiting for (at precisely the moment she was set to give up and become a yoga instructor) in "Mulholland Drive" that she hit out of the ballpark.

This is a good, solid, noir film of three people who have screwed up their lives with carelessness and substance abuse desperately seeking another chance. I would like it on DVD. It holds up well with levels revealed with each viewing (the subtleties of the scene where Joe Mantegna first buys the sisters lunch...).

I bought this movie on-line because it was cheaper than renting it. That said, with a cast lead by the likes of the ever-reliable Joe Mantegna and the under-used Kelly Lynch, and supported by Naomi Watts and John Favrau, my expectations were sadly high. This is nothing more than standard crime fare with double crossing and crazy drug killers and one nasty cop (the always great JT Walsh). However, beneath all that, lies a tender love story between two broken people who just can't take another heart break. I'm a sucker for a love story like this, and it works in no small part thanks to the talents of Mantegna and Watts. I'm glad to have it in my collection.