By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: David Mackenzie
Starring: Ciarán Hinds | Claire Forlani | Jamie Bell | John Paul Lawler | Lucy Holt | Sophia Myles
Original language title: Hallam Foe
Country: united_states
Year: 2008
Running time: 86
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0466816/
Bruce says: “David Mackenzie is succeeding in bringing unconventional stories to the screen such as THE LAST GREAT WILDERNESS and YOUNG ADAM. MISTER FOE is a perfect companion piece for those earlier films. MISTER FOE is a coming-of-age tale which takes on the trappings of a thriller. Stuck in a country estate with his father after a strange drowning death of his mother, Hallam Foe is no ordinary kid. In his late teens, he has a highly cultivated voyeuristic instinct and no interest in continuing his education. He has no friends. Hallam spends most of his time spying on other kids having sex, sneaking peeks at his father and stepmother having sex, watching his stepmother depilating his sister’s legs. Although it is perfectly clear to the viewer that Hallam is a very disturbed child, Julius (Ciarán Hinds), Hallam’s father, is clueless as to how to approach his son.
“Hallam, displeased with the explanation of his mother’s drowning (she was a great swimmer), does some amateur detective work. He discovers the row boat she was in when she drowned and a man-made hole in the bottom of the boat that surely caused it to sink in the lake behind the house. When Hallam gets a copy of the autopsy, sleeping pills were found in his mother’s stomach along with a brown liquid likely her morning coffee. Verity, who has rapidly become his stepmother following his mother’s tragedy, finds Hallam’s diaries and learns that she is the prime suspect in the death of Hallam’s mother. She confronts Hallam in the treehouse where he spends a large part of his time. She seduces Hallam thinking that will keep him from further explorations. At least her advances get him out of the hW=ouse – he packs his bags and leaves home, heading to Edinborough.
“Within hours he sees a woman on the street who looks like his mother. He follows her into the luxury hotel where she works as the human resources officer. When she catches him following her, he pretends to be looking for employment. She gives him a job. He begins spying on her, climbing the roof of the hotel where he can see her apartment with his binoculars. He watches her having sex with one of the hotel managers who has already caught Hallam going up to the roof of the hotel. When Hallam is paired up with a somewhat elderly slacker dishwasher, the man quickly becomes annoyed with Hallam’s energy and tells him to slow down. ‘I killed a man once, just so you know,’ he says. Hallam’s days are possibly numbered.
“Jamie Bell, although still most famous for his title role in BILLY ELIOT, again puts to rest any suggestions that he might be a flash-in-the-pan child actor as he did earlier in David Gordon Green’s little seen UNDERTOW. The supporting cast is excellent. 3.5 cats”