Borderline

Borderline plays around with the grey areas of the human mind that control impulse, empathy and rational thinking, showing (albeit in slightly stunted and blunt B movie form) us a recently released psychiatric patient with Borderline Personality Disorder who becomes obsessed with bis former doctor. Gina Gershon is Lila Coletti, a prison psychiatrist who is very good at her job. Maybe too good. When she sanctions the release of Ed Baikman (Sean Patrick Flanery), she has no idea the heap of trouble she's headed for. Ed is anything but rehabilitated, just a charmer who's great at disguising his instability. Pretty soon people in Lila's life start to get mysteriously injured, and even killed. She is protected by her boyfriend, Detective Macy Kobacek (a slick Michael Biehn), but it may not be enough to put a stop to Ed's crafty, dangerous game. Gershon has always been a strong force, despite being saddled with a lot of... I don't want to use the M word, but let's say, promiscuous roles. She holds her own as a lead female protagonist in a real world context even better, and I wish she'd get more roles like this. Flanery is creepy without resorting to gimmicky grimacing or run of the mill psycho stuff. Biehn is Biehn, he's just a legend in any role. Most of the acting besides those three is pretty patchy, but one can only hope for so much with this kind of low budget fare. Worth it for fans of these actors (they're all favesies of mine), and a not too shabby little thriller.

This picture was filmed in Capetown, South Africa with expert talent and a script far superior to a lot of recent Hollywood thriller crap (like Bullock's MURDER BY NUMBERS, Spacey's DAVID GALE and any of those Ashley Judd potboilers she made with Morgan Freeman, to name a few). This is a nicely contrived murder mystery featuring a strong female lead and some intelligent supporting players; even the obligatory child factor was nicely handled in this particular case. It's an adult murder noir with some smart character interplay. Choice of it's kind.

"Borderline" is just that. Borderline. Representing little more than a pay check for a slew of actors and production people, "Borderline" is a B-flick from the get go. Gershon is at the center as a prison psychiatrist whose ex-husband is murdered after securing custody of the divorced couple's two daughters. Gershon, who just happens to be dating an investigator on the case, is suspect and spends the run time trying to convince everyone, including the audience, of her innocence. With a threadbare plot, an uneven portrayal by Gershon, and ordinariness in all aspects of the film, there's little reason to spend time with "Borderline" unless you happen to surf it on cable and are in the mood for a convoluted mystery flick. (C-)

I'll let you know now, I've seen better thrillers. But "Borderline" is definitely worth the watch. I am a huge fan of the hot Sean Patrick Flannery(one of the world's most under rated actors), the beautiful Gina Gershan(again, very under rated), and the handsome Michael Biehn(he's a good actor; no comment). So, when I saw the cover to this movie, I was immediately excited to see such fine actors together. The story is about a woman who is fighting for custody of her two daughters and looses them to her ex-husband due to her jail-psychiatrist job that every in-mate admires her for. When her ex-husband and his fiancée' are murdered the night that she looses her children to him, things look suspicious obviously. She wanted her kids, she was still the one to take it all in her ex's will, and that she wanted him out of her and her kid's lives. Sean Patrick's role comes in as a former in-mate who is completely obsessed with Gina's character. He wants to be with her and her family, but Gina insists that he is the murderer of her ex and his fiancée'. Will Gina be proved innocent with the help of her supposed-to-be-not-because-they-work-together boyfriend, Michael Biehn, or will Sean slip up and confess his dark secrets? You'll just have to find out.

8/10

I like this movie a lot. It doesn't have the most original plot in the world but what it does with it is dynamite. This reminds me a lot of those old movies they call "filmes noir" nowadays, the ones with the weary cynical cop, played by someone like Mark Stevens or William Lundigan or Dana Andrews who gets mixed up with the dangerous dame who may or may not be a killer. And there's the likable but menacing loony (William Bendix, Elisha Cook), is he the guilty one? This is a real whodunit, folks, & it had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. The three principals are terrific. Gershon is a pure pulp lusty female, right off the cover of an old Signet paperback. Michael Biehn has grizzled nicely since Terminator. Maybe he'll morph into today's Sterling Hayden. And Sean Patrick Flanery is fine as the charming psycho who evokes Michael J. Fox as Hannibal Lechter. It's a great-looking film, never static, with lots of dynamic camera work, great pace and good writing. A very professional and satisfying film. In a way it is what The Man Who Wasn't There should have been.