Probably one of the most widely anticipated films of this year, "Hallam Foe" is a weird voyeuristic drama, a mix of whodunit, romance and family drama.
There is a great level of eccentricity that completely permeates "Hallam Foe", and this generates right from the eponymous title character, in an intense yet believably rounded performance from Jamie Bell.
Hallam (Bell) is a self-absorbed outsider obsessed with his dead mother who lives with his dad (Ciaran Hinds) and his stepmother (Claire Forlani) in the Scottish Highlands. Hallam likes to spy on other people, and his pasttime has descended into an obsession. Kicked out of his house after he goes too far, he heads to Edinburgh where he gets a job as a kitchen porter, beginning a romance with his boss Kate (Sophia Myles), the spitting image of his mum...
The film looks great, with some great location shooting in the Scottish Highlands and Edinburgh, complemented with a lively contemporary soundtrack.
Bell is well supported by Hinds and Forlani, along with rising star Sophia Myles as the luminous Kate. Jamie Sives as excellent as Hallam's thoroughly dislikeable love rival, and Maurice Roeves and Ewen Bremner, as his bonkers work colleagues, provide much welcome comic relief.
It can feel a bit too weird for its own good and Hallam does things which would land ordinary people in jail, and it's only through Bell's sympathetic portrayal that we're warming to him, when probably we shouldn't.
For anyone keen to see what all the fuss has been about, "Hallam Foe" is well worth your time.
There is a great level of eccentricity that completely permeates "Hallam Foe", and this generates right from the eponymous title character, in an intense yet believably rounded performance from Jamie Bell.
Hallam (Bell) is a self-absorbed outsider obsessed with his dead mother who lives with his dad (Ciaran Hinds) and his stepmother (Claire Forlani) in the Scottish Highlands. Hallam likes to spy on other people, and his pasttime has descended into an obsession. Kicked out of his house after he goes too far, he heads to Edinburgh where he gets a job as a kitchen porter, beginning a romance with his boss Kate (Sophia Myles), the spitting image of his mum...
The film looks great, with some great location shooting in the Scottish Highlands and Edinburgh, complemented with a lively contemporary soundtrack.
Bell is well supported by Hinds and Forlani, along with rising star Sophia Myles as the luminous Kate. Jamie Sives as excellent as Hallam's thoroughly dislikeable love rival, and Maurice Roeves and Ewen Bremner, as his bonkers work colleagues, provide much welcome comic relief.
It can feel a bit too weird for its own good and Hallam does things which would land ordinary people in jail, and it's only through Bell's sympathetic portrayal that we're warming to him, when probably we shouldn't.
For anyone keen to see what all the fuss has been about, "Hallam Foe" is well worth your time.