Jetsam

My wife and I watched this movie together. We paid very close attention from the very beginning. Neither of us have the slightest idea of A, who anyone was or B, what was going on in any of the scenes.

There are a lot of scenes of women drinking water. They drink water from glasses followed by another scene of drinking from a sink.

There are a lot of scenes of someone walking towards the camera.

There are a lot of scenes of someone walking away from the camera.

Many of the scenes repeat exactly except for a different actor as one of the characters.

Many of the scenes repeat exactly with the same actor as the same character.

Seriously, are you kidding me? I am thinking that the IMDb rating of 7, as there were only 54 ratings by IMDb users thus far, is mostly from the people involved in this "movie", though there were likely more than 54 people involved in total in making it. (How is that for irony?) Not recommended for anyone who wants to watch a movie where there is a story or where something happens. The reviewer who commented "but really none of it makes the slightest sense whatsoever" is wholly correct.

I managed to catch this film at the recent Slamdance Film Festival. I was there for Sundance, but I always check out a couple of Slammers and I was drawn to see this one because it starred 2 of the girls from The Descent. First off this is NOT a horror film, and one of the Decsenters is only in half the movie (that doesn't give anything away)... but thats where my disappointment ended. This was quite simply an awesome film. It should have been at Sundance, don't know why it wasn't. It starts out as a real dark thriller and then just gets darker and darker, drip feeding a real twist of a story that keeps you guessing right till the very last scene. This might upset a few people who like their stories straight, but I love them twisted and this was pure cork screw. The cast is fantastic all round, Alex Reid being a stand-out. The script is pretty spot on and the photography is unbelievable. It's one of the best looking films I've seen in ages and they supposedly made if for a few bucks! The story is very clever and really draws you. It's setting in the world of spying has been done a lot, but this is a really different take on the subject matter. Haven't seen anything by this director (Simon Welsford) before, but I look forward to seeing whatever he does next.

Rachel (Shauna Macdonald from 'The Descent') is a spy who becomes a scientist's girlfriend to report on his inventions later to Kemp (Jamie Draven from 'Ultimate Force'). Grace (Alex Reid, who was in 'The Descent' AND 'Ultimate Force') spies on the spies for another spy with huge glasses. To make things even more confusing, the story is told backwards, beginning with Grace almost drowning, and then revealing in flashbacks why she was pushed in the water, and where, and by whom. On top of that circular narrative method, Grace becomes Rachel for half of the running time in a case of shifting identities, probably because she observed her to such a degree she starts to identify with her (admittedly this is partly an interpretation, not a summary), but to cut a long story short: what we get here is an actually rather simple story, but told in such a cunning, complicated, yet fascinating way you might believe you're watching an episode of 'The Prisoner'.

I was occasionally wondering if I should feel slightly cheated, but I must say, in the end I enjoyed the movie very much. A desolate landscape, haunting music, excellent actors and an overwhelming feeling of mystery made it worthwhile. Mind you, for the budget of that flick you can't buy a used car these days. And when you are working in the Bond & Bourne genre, you have to be very careful not to try any silly action scenes, but instead put the emphasis on the characters, and that worked perfectly well. It got the blues.

Saw this at the London Film Festival in 2007, and it was the one truly dreadful film I saw that fortnight. The director tries too hard to be oh-so-clever with his fractured narrative and shifting perspectives, but really none of it makes the slightest sense whatsoever, and is wholly unbelievable and silly. From about a third of the way thru you realise the film is disappearing up its own backside because the director doesn't really have a handle on what the story is, or what happens and in what order. Clearly, he saw Following and Memento and decided to just nick chunks from both and clumsily cellotape the bits together.

I saw Jetsam at the London Film Festival. I have to say well done to Simon Wellsford for taking on and making/producing & directing a film for four grand. I went with a couple of my friends who thought the film was excellent. However it did not grab me I got very bored half way through. The plot was very catching at first but then did not have the stamina to take you to the end. I found it a little confusing in most areas, the cast did an exceptional job and i did not have any issues with any of them fulfilling the roles they were given. It is a film like Marmite you will either love it or hate it! However I do not want to slam a film which was made on such a low budget and for this alone I say well done