The Intended (2002)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Kristian Levring

Writers:

Kristian Levring (writer)
Janet McTeer (writer)

Release Date:

18 July 2003 (Denmark)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A period drama/thriller about a surveyor and his fiancée who arrive in a remote Malaysian trading post and encounter a closed-fisted ivory trader and her ill-meaning family.

Plot Keywords:

Jungle | Madness | Hand Job | Suspense

Cast

Janet McTeer	...	Sarah Morris
Olympia Dukakis	...	Erina
Brenda Fricker	...	Mrs. Jones
Tony Maudsley	...	William Jones
JJ Feild	...	Hamish Winslow (as JJ Field)
David Bradley	...	The Priest
Philip Jackson	...	Norton
Robert Pugh	...	Le Blanc
John Matthew Lau	...	Judas
Thomas Goh	...	Jalak
Michael J. Langgi	...	Ugat

MPAA:

Rated R for strong sexuality, nudity and some violence.

Runtime:

Canada:110 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | USA:110 min

Country:

UK | Denmark

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:18A (Ontario) | Australia:MA (cable rating) | Finland:K-15 | USA:R | Singapore:M18

Company:

Parallax Projekt (Innocence) Ltd.

Intensity, isolation and insanity in a Malysia jungle.

9 stars out of 10. The film is excellent in all respects.

The only reason I did not give it 10 was because I would have liked to have had a bit more depth and background on the characters - on what brought them to the point where we meet them.

I did not know any of the cast except for Olympia Dukakis, but each was perfect in their roles.

The story revolves around Hamish Winslow, a young surveyor who comes to a jungle outpost in Malaysia with his intended, a woman somewhat older than himself, Sarah Morris.

The station is run by an intriguing and hard-nosed woman, Mrs. Jones. With Mrs. Jones is her son, William, her nephew Norton, a priest, and a servant woman named Erina. All of these people have been effected by their isolated environment and their relationships with each other.

William, the son of Mrs. Jones, a heavy set man, perhaps in his thirties, appears to be the most effected by the isolation and lack of love in his life.

Erina, the elderly serving woman, has developed a strange kind of bond with William that eventually plays itself out in forcing an unsavory situation to come about.

The story moves well, and definitely held my interest entirely throughout.

Not a typical film, nothing cliché here - very original in it's three dimensional characters and what occurs with them in the depths of the humid Malaysia jungle.