Like Minds

This film is about two young teenage boys developing a morbid fascination with re-enacting a medieval legend.

After reading the detailed explanation of the plot on the discussion boards, I begin to make sense of the film. The plot itself is interesting, but there are quite a few problems. Nigel's speech is almost always incomprehensible, both the content and his accent are not understandable. Secondly, the non linear presentation of events make it very confusing. Thirdly, the relationship between Nigel and Alex is very ambiguous and is never fully explained. One minute Alex hates Nigel and beats him up, and the other minute they hang out with each other? So, the already complicated plot degenerates into a confusing mess of jumbled up scenes. "Like Minds" is a disappointing and confusing film.

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.

Have you ever just clicked with someone? Ever felt they just got you, like they were inside your head? But what if that link had a sinister side? What if their knowing you was involuntary? Like Minds (2006) is the tale of one such relationship; a complicated adversarial tussle between two boys bound by history, mythology and blood. But it is not your ordinary thriller.

Alex Forbes (Eddie Redmayne) is a cocky private school boy living with the mantle of his lineage. With more than charm behind his smile, he plays being son-of-the-principal to his favour where he can, but when he is forced to share his room with a beautiful and strange boy, Nigel Colby (Tom Sturridge), Alex finds himself being slowly suffocated by a string of deaths. But when these occurrences culminate in Nigel's death, Alex is taken into custody.

Lacking hard evidence and under pressure from Alex's father, Senior Detective Martin Mckenzie (Richard Roxburgh) enlists the expertise of forensic psychologist Sally Rowe (Toni Collette) to dig up foundation to the charges. Her investigations force her into an awkward and testing psychological dialogue with Alex that continues to delve deeper into mystery and murder. But even as information comes to light, the relationships between the characters prove to be as tightly woven as the rich mythology that under pins the story.

Doused in history, religion and suspense, Like Minds is disturbingly sophisticated, visually beautiful and completely captivating. The acting of Eddie Redmayne is chillingly brilliant, but by far Tom Sturridge's is the most impressive, being haunting and calculated with a cold, unemotional stare that will sink deep into you.

Nigel Bluck's cinematography is beautiful, with a saturated and dark aesthetic that is as melancholic as the soundtrack. Both add so much to the depth of Like Minds.

Like Minds is a complicated contemporary thriller with a jarring twist; hauntingly beautiful and sharp as a knife. And it certainly will cut deep.

"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.

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.