Hallam Foe

Hallam Foe is so self-consciously a left field British Indie, at times it seems close to self-parody. The result is a film that strives hard to be a departure, but spoils its early promise.

The film is about an adolescent, Hallam Foe, in a Scots upper middle-class dysfunctional family (wife recently dead, the husband having replaced her with his young English lover) on a remote Scottish estate. The early scenes are full of an atmosphere of unknown menace and lurid danger, reminiscent of Ian MacEwan's early stories.

Hallam Foe is a very unusual, oedipal adolescent, one of many young screen protagonists that seem to be the spawn of the original fictional teenage weirdo, Holden Caulfield. After a lurid altercation with his father's distinctly dodgy lover, Hallam jumps ship and goes to the big city, where he quickly becomes obsessed with a female stranger who resembles his mother, and struggles with the loss of innocence and tensions of adolescence. But after developing a relationship with the stranger, the film becomes slack and loses interest as the plot becomes tenuous and spins off into improbability.

Still, on the plus side, Hallam Foe is not bad and even quite funny, and has a real sense of place. The cast is good, particularly Jamie Bell and Sophia Myles, both of whom give demanding performances.

Excellent and spot on movie. Not only is this so well directed and acted, it has a difficult story to tell and convinces us 100% time. It is certainly in part the performance of Jamie Bell that helps us take this story of a peeping tom hero on board so effortlessly, but because everything else also buzzes so authentically, we can only conclude that , for once, we have a superb script. I didn't notice one word of dialogue that jarred and this when we have such taboo items up for discussion and for the doing of! Bell as mentioned is excellent but so are all the cast and because I do mean all we have to conclude that Mr Mackenzie has a rare actor directing skill. Sophia Myles is also well worthy of mention, and seems capable of disarming changes that always seem likely to catch one off guard. Funny, affecting, stimulating, sexy, stylish and not a little alarming. Do not miss this movie.

Excellent performances, including a beautiful one by the city of Edinburgh, are what make this erratic movie worth seeing. Jamie Bell is very endearing, and demonstrates a wide emotional range (compare and contrast dull American actors like Ryan Phillippe and Matt Damon). He's well supported by, amongst others, Sophia Myles, Jamie Sives, that wonderful old stager Maurice Roeves and, in an splendid cameo, Ewan Bremner.

The story loses itself in unconvincing melodrama towards the end, which is a pity. Up till then it's an eccentric, entertainingly wayward affair, with a sparky script, good photography and lively editing.

Years on from his success in Billy Elliott, it's great to see Jamie Bell being given a vehicle to show that he has the genuine talent to carry a film. Hallam Foe is a fine British production; quirky, disturbing, funny, interesting, thought-provoking and consistently well-shot and soundtracked. At the same time, it's a little gimmicky, heavily-influenced (Trainspotting, Rear Window et al), and frankly far-fetched in its depiction of the unlikely love between Hallam and the object of his affection in Edinburgh (Sophie Myles). But where the disbelief needs suspending,Jamie Bell's performance saves the day, on the emotional side through bringing tremendous depth to his character, and on the physical side by making his rooftop athleticism completely believable. For all its faults, this is a admirable and brave piece of work, well worth-watching if you're after something dark and provocative that will also make you laugh (the badger suit?).

Jamie bell has certainly come a long way from that little dancing boy 'Billy Elliot', although he never seems to get any older, and here he takes another challenging role as Hallam Foe. Hallam is introduced to us as he skylines onto a couple having sex near his tree house, not only is he semi-clad and wearing make-up he is sporting a rather bizarre piece of headgear made out of a badger. It is at this point we the audience can assume that Hallam is not only a bit mad but a bit creepy, which apparently stems from his mothers suicide. From here on in the story sees him leave behind his tree house sanctuary, not by choice, and fly the nest to Edinburgh, he is homeless, jobless and believes his step mother killed his real mother. Armed with his trusty binoculars he scrambles around the roof tops spying on the residents of the city and we learn that he distanced himself from people when he lost his mother and it just turned into a kind of habit, a modern day peeping tom. As opposed to the obsession he had with everyone before he left home, he becomes focused on Kate, a human resources officer for a large hotel, mainly due to the fact that she reminds him of his mother. After conning his way into a job at the hotel he embarks on a relationship with Kate but his spiralling madness, dark secret and Kate's regular sex partner threaten everything and push Hallam further down the spiral. Directed by David Mackenzie it really does have a sense of love for the city and its people, but its Bell and Sophia Myles (Kate), whose strange relationship forms the centre of the film, that carry the plot along. With music from the likes of Orange Juice to Sons and Daughters and an exclusive Franz Ferdinand track the pace is upbeat and the David Shrigley Cartoon titles should be an inclination to the type of quirky film this is. Bold, funny and a little disturbing Hallam Foe is an enjoyable romp through the weird and wonderful world of the human mind and emotions and how certain things can affect our everything.