Mister Foe (2007)
"Hallam Foe" (original title)

Hallam's talent for spying on people reveals his darkest fears-and his most peculiar desires. Driven to expose the true cause of his mother's death, he instead finds himself searching the rooftops of the city for love.

Director:

David Mackenzie

Writers:

Peter Jinks (novel), David Mackenzie (screenplay),

Stars:

Jamie Bell, Ruth Milne, John Paul Lawler

9 wins & 15 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jamie Bell	...	Hallam
Ruth Milne	...	Jenny (as Ruthie Milne)
John Paul Lawler	...	Carl
Claire Forlani	...	Verity
Lucy Holt	...	Lucy
Ciarán Hinds	...	Julius
Malcolm Shields	...	Kilt Man
John Comerford	...	Grumpy Glaswegian
Gerry Cleary	...	Grumpy Glaswegian
Paul Blair	...	Raincoat Man
Neil McKinven	...	Police Officer
Sophia Myles	...	Kate
Jamie Sives	...	Alasdair
Maurice Roëves	...	Raymond (as Maurice Roeves)
Stuart Hepburn	...	Police Inspector

Storyline

The seventeen year-old Hallam Foe is a weird teenager that misses his mother, who committed suicide by drowning in a lake near their house in Edinburgh after an overdose of sleeping pills. Hallam spends his spare time peeping at the locals and blames his stepmother Verity Foe, accusing her of killing his mother. After a discussion with his father Julius Foe, Hallam sneaks out from his house and travels to Edinburgh, where he sees Kate Breck and becomes obsessed with her because of her resemblance to his mother. Kate hires Hallam to work in the kitchen of the hotel where she works and they have a strange romance, while Hallam reaches his maturity in the hardest way.

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Plot Keywords:

hotel | love | desire | kitchen | lake | 

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Taglines:

Some people see life differently

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sexual content and language

Details

Official Sites:

Offical blog Official US site

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

31 August 2007 (UK)

Also Known As:

Mister Foe

Filming Locations:

Balmoral Hotel, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

Box Office

Budget:

£3,800,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$13,490 (USA) (5 September 2008)

Gross:

$59,255 (USA) (17 October 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Film4, Ingenious Film Partners, Scottish Screen

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Although much of Hallam Foe is filmed in central Edinburgh, the film avoids showing Edinburgh Castle, which is visible from many of the real life locations.

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Goofs

Hallam works in the Balmoral Hotel at the East end of Princes Street, yet all shots of the staff entrance to the hotel are clearly the Caledonian Hotel at the West end of the Street.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Jenny: [to Hallam] You're dead. You're fucking dead! I'll get my brother on to you.
Carl: [to Jenny] Jen, come back, wait!
Carl: [to Hallam] If that was a joke, it wasn't a bit fucking funny. And I'd look out for her brother, he's fucking mental.

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Soundtracks

"Your Door Is Closed"
Written, Recorded and Performed by Stewart Anderson and Nicola Hodgkinson
Recorded Summer 1999
Courtesy of Geographic Music

User Reviews

A Self-Conscious British Film that Strives Hard to be a Departure, but Spoils its Initial Promise

Hallam Foe is so self-consciously a left field British Indie, at times it seems close to self-parody. The result is a film that strives hard to be a departure, but spoils its early promise.

The film is about an adolescent, Hallam Foe, in a Scots upper middle-class dysfunctional family (wife recently dead, the husband having replaced her with his young English lover) on a remote Scottish estate. The early scenes are full of an atmosphere of unknown menace and lurid danger, reminiscent of Ian MacEwan's early stories.

Hallam Foe is a very unusual, oedipal adolescent, one of many young screen protagonists that seem to be the spawn of the original fictional teenage weirdo, Holden Caulfield. After a lurid altercation with his father's distinctly dodgy lover, Hallam jumps ship and goes to the big city, where he quickly becomes obsessed with a female stranger who resembles his mother, and struggles with the loss of innocence and tensions of adolescence. But after developing a relationship with the stranger, the film becomes slack and loses interest as the plot becomes tenuous and spins off into improbability.

Still, on the plus side, Hallam Foe is not bad and even quite funny, and has a real sense of place. The cast is good, particularly Jamie Bell and Sophia Myles, both of whom give demanding performances.