Mente criminal

The film starts out very simple, a dead body and a kid as the most likely suspect. Toni Collette plays a psychologist trying to get an idea of whether or not he is guilty. The rest of the film is told in flashback, starting with Alex, the kid suspected, being introduced to the world of Nigel, his new roommate, who believes that he is something more than what people see him as, and he wonders if Alex may be a part of it. From there, the events leading up to Nigel's death is unraveled, leading up to the final climatic ending.

This film tries to do what several successful films have done in the past by posing a semi-twist ending. Unfortunately it falls a little short of getting there, and becoming more of an open-ended film to think about, open to your own interpretation.

I passed this film up on several trips to Blockbuster because I disliked the title and didn't care much for the photo on the DVD box. But, Blockbuster showcases so much crap, and I had basically exhausted all of my viewing choices when I finally settled on this DVD. To my great surprise, this is a fascinating movie, with just enough twists and turns to keep the viewer interested. Toni Colette is wonderful and believable in the role of a forensic psychologist tasked with interviewing a murder suspect. Her job: to weave together the fragments of his harrowing narrative in order to ascertain his culpability, which the impetuous arresting officer (he has testosterone seeping out of his pores) is eager to have confirmed. The film is brilliant because it pitches together a smart forensic psychologist who eventually has to pull her dusty textbooks off the shelf to read up on Gestalt, with a young man of remarkable, quiet brilliance and the cunning of a fox at the chicken coop. Well worth viewing.

A friend of mine in France suggested I watch this movie seeing as I enjoyed Sturridge's (Nigel) performance in "A Waste of Shame" and was pleasantly surprised considering all the duds I've seen lately.

What I thought started out to be one of those moody, atmospheric boarding-school inter-relationship art-house melodramas turned into a well-done, well-photographed and well-written and for sure well-acted engrossing movie -- far from being dull as some others have commented -- with just enough little plot twists without going over the top and leaving the audience totally confused. Sometimes these told-in-flashback movies don't turn out too well because there's oftentimes not enough information supplied during the rest of the movie to support the big surprise at the end: you feel cheated and tricked because you didn't see it coming. Not so here. If you pay attention and watch closely, you're not at all surprised by the closing scene on the train, and think it was inevitable.

The chemistry between the two leads, Alex and Nigel, is a treat in itself to witness, more so because the developing relationship builds slowly instead of Nigel winning Alex over to his train of thought right off the bat: you're never sure if Nigel won.

Watch this movie, you'll enjoy it. Believe me, it's far from dull.

"Like minds" starts out from a very interesting and engaging premise, whereby we find the 17-year-old Alex charged with shooting his classmate Nigel dead. The police detective in charge of the case (Richard Roxburgh) firmly believes Alex is a psychopath, and asks psychologist Sally Rowe (Toni Collette) to interview him and try to get a confession from him. But Alex is a smart, mysterious and secretive kid, and Sally will quickly be intrigued enough to get personally involved in the case. Little by little, we'll find out there's much more to Nigel's death than the gunshot incident, since Alex will tell Sally that Nigel had, and still has, some strange and powerful form of mental influence on him.

The movie starts out well, but quickly goes downhill, and fast, up to a crashing finale. The first few sequences aside, it never manages to offer anything remotely close to suspense or thrill, even though you can tell it tries hard. The characters are only barely written, and, despite the writers' efforts, Alex and Nigel are little more than the stereotypical teen thriller weirdos with little depth to them. The movie fails at every thing it attempts to be: a psychological study of characters, an "original" thriller involving teenagers, a drama about teen angst in a hostile world... you name it. There are bits and pieces of all those subgenres, but the movie just goes nowhere, and does so at a killing slow pace.

I give this movie three stars because it has such good actors as Richard Roxburgh and Toni Collette (although neither is at their best here), because of the settings (very somber and well made; too bad the story wasn't at par with them) and because the idea was good.

I got this DVD without knowing a thing about it, other than the fact that the cover art looked interesting, and it was an Australian production. What i saw was perhaps the most precisely weird film I have ever watched. And 'weird' is a good thing, in a time when seemingly everything has been done, and it is so hard to achieve originality. 17 year-old Alex discovers that a new guy has been placed in his dorm room at the private school which he attends. Nigel is quiet, cold, and has a preoccupation with history and pure blood lineage. He also has an obsession with dead things. He is into taxidermy, and spends most of his time gutting and stuffing animal carcasses in his room. This drives Alex crazy, however Nigel manages to insinuate himself into Alex's life, and the relationship that develops between these two guys is one of the strangest ones i have seen portrayed in cinema. Surprisingly Miramax has purchased the rights to this film. Surprisingly because, although "Like Minds" is a fine, and very special movie, it is doubtful that it will have a commercial success in the states, as it is just too dark, murky and off-beat for most mainstream movie-goers. It is also quite morbid. However i can see this one developing a cult following among fans of strange and sinister films. The cinematography is beautiful, and the scenes with Nigel and Alex are mesmerizing. There were of course, a few scenes that were not quite as effective. Mainly the ones that focused on Toni Collette's character, as a criminal psychologist. A couple scenes made the movie look like it might turn into another average murder mystery thriller. But those moments are few and far between, as the film refuses to be predictable, or normal in any way. The story becomes more bizarre, and more fascinating as it goes forward, and a couple plot twists really blew me away. And the character of Nigel, as portrayed by Tom Sturridge, was evil and menacing, and his pale, haunted look made for perfect casting. Eddie Redmayne as Alex was no less compelling. There were some really nice touches, and a couple tributes paid to other classic films about evil. Such as the rotweiller that protects Nigel, very much like the demonic dogs who protected Damian in the classic "Omen." And a grisly murder, featuring a young woman crucified with two rowing oars crossed. A similar ritual murder that featured in William Peter Blatty's 'Exorcist III." Oddly there is no one that the audience is urged to sympathize with, as both boys are very cold and unfriendly. Another fact that makes this so different from a Hollywood production. "Like Minds" is a very strange and unique film. I imagine that many people will hate this, and others, mainly those with a fixation on the darker sides of the human soul, will find it fascinating.