I Want You

I agree with most of the other reviewers comments, but the viewer should know that this is not mainstream stuff, it's alternative, sort of like "High Art". If you like standard slick Hollywood stuff, this won't be your bag. Scenes change quickly, and at other times dawdle over a mood. The sex is alternative too, no standard love here. The acting is adequate, and the cinamatography is rural grundge UK, nothing pretty, not one nice English garden anywhere, mostly mud and weeds. If you've got broad tastes, give it a try. -Bob

It is about a boy, who doesn't speak but falls in love with an older girl. As it turns out, her father was murdered. Now her former boyfriend, who is released on parole, stalks her, but nevertheless rescues her from being raped. Fair enough. She is torn between him, the boy and some others, who try to have sex with her.

It is a quite strange but due to that fancy story. The film offers more than just the story, it also uses many different ways to talk to its audience. Listen carefully to the song texts. They might not be the best, but add a sometimes funny, sometimes bitter sphere. This bitterness is more than just a stylistic device, it is one of the central themes, as it deals with guilt and the desire of being loved.

See it, but be aware that it is a relatively cheap production, so don't await to much in this term.

I really liked this movie. I can't quite figure out why, however. It's not quite the psychological thrill that it was perhaps intended to be (we never really get into the head of Martin, a man obsessed with his old love, which most people think is what the film is supposed to be about), and the relationship between Helen and Honda never really becomes a focal point, but like City of Lost Children, it gains a lot of points by simply being a unique viewing experience.

The relationship that Honda has with Smokey (his sister) and Helen are realistic and almost heart warming. It would have been a more enjoyable movie if it simply focused on the trio, but the movie is very intelligent and thought provoking as it is.

One of the best movies I have seen this year. Michael Winterbottom proves to be a truly versatile director with this film about love, loneliness, sorrow and obsession in an English coastal town. The use of Elvis Costello's song "I want you" as a theme throughout the film is superb. It leaves you with a strange and yearning sensation that will last for days. The cinematography is so very good, thanks to Kieslowskis photographer Zlavomir Idziak who also filmed "Gattaca" creating a similar visual style. Wonderful yellow, green and blue renders a supernatural, poetic feel to the characters as well as the town. You watch with the feeling that anything can happen, and it does.

The casting of this movie is almost perfect. Rachel Weisz is equally true as the both innocent and dangerous Helen as she was in "The Mummy" playing a librarian with vigour, looks and brains. I predict hers to be a great career. Make way, Kate Winslet and Helena Bonham-Carter! Alessandro Nivola as Martin is just as persuasive. He is scary, touching, pathetic and assertive all at the same time, consumed by an obsession with Helen fuelled by eight years in jail.

The only thing that bothers me about this movie is the way it abandons the mute boy and his sister's story to concentrate on Helen and Martin. However, this is a minor detail in a movie that often bears visual reminders of Derek Jarman at his very best. The very self-conscious references to "Romeo is bleeding" and "Red rock west" will probably ensure a similar cult-following before long.

'I Want You' is unique, transcending British cinema in one easy leap. What the film offers that makes it special is a portrait of obsessive desire and compulsion framed quite brazenly in an English coastal town. Cinematographer Slawomir Idziak (of Three Colours Red/White and Blue fame) commits to celluloid a most distinct and unfamiliar slice of life in a claustrophobic town, complimented superbly with Winterbottom's direction.

The cast although largely unknown (with the exception of Weisz and Nirvola) effortlessly demand attention and understanding and the development of these characters is really what the film is all about.

'I Want You' consciously refers back to cult films like 'Red Rock West' and 'Romeo is Bleeding' and here it seems Micheal Winterbottom may just have produced an English answer.