A Patch of Fog

A Patch of Fog is a small Irish film about a security guard who blackmails a celebrity he finds shoplifting into being his friend.

This is a small film that probably would have worked better if it was cut down in length and used as a one hour TV drama. Saying that it still manages to be reasonably entertaining.

The two leads do a good job especially Stephen Graham who shows his versatility here as the lonely man just looking for friendship but going about it the wrong way. Although both actors are great the one slight downfall was that neither character manages to garner much sympathy from the audience which left me a little detached from the events that followed.

Overall I thought this was a decent small film and it did have a very good ending which makes it worth sitting through.

I don't really enjoy watching films about sick, twisted people. But they are sometimes interesting. This one was small, and based on writing and tension. Both of which elements were above average. The Belfast setting was refreshing for me, since I haven't seen many films based in Northern Ireland, and the cinematography did it justice. Both leads seemed perfectly cast. That is so important. I don't recall any music or sex, and the violence was minimal. The ending included some memorable imagery that I would not have predicted. But I still wish I hadn't watched this film. Because it will just add to the endless gallery of disturbing images in my mind from past viewings of countless films. So many of which these days are about murder, infidelity, crime, or depression.

I just caught this film on Sky Movies. Most of the films that premier on Sky without having had a cinema release tend to be pretty bad. 90% of the time I switch them off after 20 minutes. But I stuck with this one even though it was a little slow starting. It's a fairly low budget Brit flick and at times it looks and feels like a daytime soap, but the quality of the story makes it rise above the usual low budget affairs. I could even see this film being remade by Hollywood with some big A-list names in the two main roles. Stephen Graham is great as the lonely store detective, while Lord Varys from Game of Thrones is decent in the lead role, although with hair he looks and sounds like Eamon Holmes. This would have worked well as an episode of Tales of the Unexpected because for a feature length film it is drawn out in places. But recognising that the filmmakers have kept it to just over 80 minutes. What keeps the viewer watching (apart from the solid acting) are the regular twists and turns in the script. After the first 20 minutes there's a twist every 10 minutes or so and some of them are quite excellent. One in particular around the 45 minute mark was a real beauty. This film is definitely worth a look. Much better than your usual low budget Brit flicks.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that a film featuring Stephen Graham is very good. I couldn't get into the first ten minutes, however there is a turning point, and this film really does take off.

The story is unique, I have never seen a film where a character has such a strange motivation, that motivation seemingly being loneliness. Plenty of twists and turns, expect the unexpected, this film doesn't follow any rules.

The acting is terrific, Hill and Graham truly manage to bring their characters to life.

I loved the ending, I really wasn't expecting that to happen.

The moral of the story, don't go pinching from shops, because you never know who's watching you!

This was very good, 7/10.

I pick awesome movies totally at random sometimes and this is one. I'd call it an uncomfortable thriller. We meet Sandy Duffy, an author, that 25 years ago published a book, about life with agoraphobic father, and himself being lost in a fog one night for hours, and his dear ol' da never even attempted to go look for him, it won him a bunch of awards, fame, money, however... Adult Sandy has secrets, and one of those is he loves the thrill of shoplifting, until he gets caught by a security guard, Robert. Instead of handing him over to the police, Robert blackmails Sandy into becoming his friend. Robert is a very lonely, very creepy dude, and he latches on and won't let go. Definitely worth a watch! Sandy may have a few other dark secrets... Equipped with a highly satisfying ending!! Filmbufftim on FB