Peacock

This movie was excellent. The plot was deeper than you would believe. (not according to the vapid response from the first reviewer, which led to my review) Cillian Murphy plays a deeply emotionally disturbed individual, when brought out of his normal routine in his life is faced to deal with who, what and whom he will become. The suspense of such a psychologically deep and suspenseful story will keep anyone with the intellectual capacity to understand said story on the edge of their seats.

I for one would highly recommend it.

And yes Cillian Murphy's performance is.... breathtaking

Nothing new here. Another reviewer already noted the travesty. This film circumvented theatrical release with direct to DVD. As far as I can tell, it wasn't even entered into film festivals.

And yet empty pop entertainment receives wide release and huge promo budgets. Guess "Peacock" didn't have the requisite action scene of a car driving through a fruit cart.

What a heartbreak for the actors. Particularly Mr. Murphy, who acted his guts out in this difficult role. His work was stellar. Bravo, Sir. I'll also wager you may never see another film that underscores Ellen Page' dramatic acting chops.

My question to those responsible for burying this film is, what the f@!k is wrong with you? With no title recognition, this gem will wither on Blockbuster shelves. Certainly, stranger and darker films are given a chance. Why not "Peacock?"

Make an effort to see this film. Then turn others on to it. It's not a masterpiece as some say, but it is a slow-building and amazing character study. If you can live without gunshots, high concepts and the venerable screeching car plowing fruit while pedestrians scatter and scream.

I'm not sure why this has such a low rating. It's not perfect, or a mind-blowing experience or something, but I thought it was a really interesting story, well-acted, especially with a wonderful performance by Cillian Murphy. It's sort of a Psycho-like story, without ever venturing into suspense or horror.

It's about an incredibly socially inept, anxiety-ridden young man named John, whose mother has died a year previously and he's been traumatized/psychologically damaged by the loss. He seems to have been both coddled/protected and smothered/extremely isolated by his mother's hermetic, semi-abusive love. She was all he had, exactly because of the way she raised him and formed his relationship to the world. Her upbringing of him, and also to a smaller extent her subsequent death/taking away of herself, both contributed to cripple him in his relationships with others. Not that much is revealed about her even by the end, and I would have liked to know more.

Cillian Murphy is so interesting and engaging to watch as the Willardesque character John, and the completely different female character, Emma, who is mild, benignant, with a quiet strength. I didn't ever not sympathize with Emma, even though I knew she was calculating. I pitied John, whose face is like a parade of his shifting emotions: his neurotic shyness, anxiety, almost childlike anger, and emotional frustration.

Cillian even looks different as John; he changes his appearance through his acting: through the way John purses his lips, carries his body, and his nervous facial tics, etc. (you will see what I mean when you see it). When he's Emma, he also looks different in accordance with her different personality. It's not like anything I've ever seen before! He must be doing something right, to be playing a character so different from his usual self, and two characters who are so different from each other, in such a thoroughgoing, immersive way as to be utterly convincing as each. It's like he completely becomes John, and then becomes Emma, and neither is at all "Cillian."

I think this movie deserves at least a 7. Some people have said that the story isn't that credible, but I didn't find anything wrong or that off about it (it's just that it doesn't really explain everything about his mother or her "true" nature, ultimately), and the protagonist himself is the driving force behind the movie, as he should be. Besides, it's a shame when people can't suspend their disbelief just a little when it's not really that central to the point of the movie and recognize the merit of it. I couldn't help thinking that maybe some people just don't like to see Cillian Murphy in a more humbling or "weird" role, and that's why they didn't enjoy it more.

I think a better title would have been "Emma," it's simple yet it really suits the movie and makes more of a point than "Peacock," which doesn't really evoke anything apart from just being the name of the town.

Cillian Murphy is really good in this. I actually can almost not think of another actor playing this particular role. It is very demanding and he goes places that I'm sure some people wouldn't dare go (or follow him for that reason). It really is a good movie. A weird little story with great actors all over the place.

I especially loved the ending, though they seemed to be unsure of how to go, since there are alternate endings on the disc. Very slow and very uncomfortable to watch, it is something that I hope will be cherished by quite a few people. Even if it only gets a home entertainment release (like in Germany) and does not see the light of the cinemas. I dare you to watch it

Just saw this down at one my favorite local internet theaters and I can tell you that this is definitely one of Cillian Murphy's top performances.

Of course, Murphy was brilliant in 28 Days Later and downright creepy in Batman Begins but his turn as John Skillpa, a young man apparently tormented by years and years of child abuse, shows the truer depths of his acting range.

I'm pretty sure this feature will be well overlooked by the Academy Awards, but it shouldn't be as far as I'm concerned as Murphy and the rest of a well picked cast shine in nearly every scene. To be honest, however, I wasn't thrilled with Ellen Page's performance but I believe she did a capable job in the role she played.

Keith Carradine and an almost unrecognizable Bill Pullman are the other actors of note besides, of course, the pushy but sensitive Fanny Crill played by Susan Sarandon.

What I can tell you, without spoiling the film, is that it's set in a not too distant rural America where the oddities of life must be kept well hidden for one to survive.

What is genuinely fresh and interesting though is how the mind of John Skillpa chooses to handle the forced revealing of a secret he's kept under wraps for quite some time in a quiet house where no one would suspect there was anything out of order.