Scan and Pan
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Breaking and Entering
Will is a London architect who lives with his girlfriend, Liv, and her autistic daughter, Bea. When his new office in Kings Cross is repeatedly burglarized, he stakes it out and follows the thief. The thief turns out to be Miro, a teenaged boy from Serbia who uses his free running skills to commit crimes. Under false pretenses, Will befriends Miro's widowed mother, Amira, and begins to fall in love with her.
Writer/director Anthony Minghella (The English Patient, Cold Mountain) crafts his story into a solid drama with good performances, but there's also a sense of it being contrived and superficial, which prevents it from being a better film. It feels like the resolutions of story lines are predetermined and the characters are simply chess pieces being maneuvered into place, with little sense of what motivates them to reach those particular ends. It's not a fatal flaw because of Minghella's assured direction of his cast. Cinematographer Benoit Delhomme (Sade) uses naturalistic lighting to capture the mood of a film largely set in a depressed urban area. The score by Gabriel Yared (The English Patient, Cold Mountain) and British electronic music duo Underworld is good, and a moody Sigur Ros song plays over the end credits.
The cast is the strength of the film. Jude Law as Will paints a believable picture of a man who seemingly has everything he wants but still feels empty. Juliette Binoche plays Amira as a mother who is willing to do anything to protect her son, including denying her own happiness. Rafi Gavron is convincing as a smart young man who lacks direction and gets into trouble because of it. He also has good rapport with Binoche and exhibits athletic talent in the free running scenes. Vera Farmiga has a funny turn as a hooker who has philosophical discussions with Law's character as he stakes out his office. Other good performances come from Robin Wright Penn as Liv, Poppy Rogers as Bea, Martin Freeman as Will's business partner, Ray Winstone as the detective investigating the burglaries, and Caroline Chikezie as a cleaning woman who likes Kafka.
Overall, a solid and respectable film, but not good enough to demand a viewing at your local cinema. Wait for the video release instead.
This is a solid but unspectacular drama with good performances.
Will is a London architect who lives with his girlfriend, Liv, and her autistic daughter, Bea. When his new office in Kings Cross is repeatedly burglarized, he stakes it out and follows the thief. The thief turns out to be Miro, a teenaged boy from Serbia who uses his free running skills to commit crimes. Under false pretenses, Will befriends Miro's widowed mother, Amira, and begins to fall in love with her.
Writer/director Anthony Minghella (The English Patient, Cold Mountain) crafts his story into a solid drama with good performances, but there's also a sense of it being contrived and superficial, which prevents it from being a better film. It feels like the resolutions of story lines are predetermined and the characters are simply chess pieces being maneuvered into place, with little sense of what motivates them to reach those particular ends. It's not a fatal flaw because of Minghella's assured direction of his cast. Cinematographer Benoit Delhomme (Sade) uses naturalistic lighting to capture the mood of a film largely set in a depressed urban area. The score by Gabriel Yared (The English Patient, Cold Mountain) and British electronic music duo Underworld is good, and a moody Sigur Ros song plays over the end credits.
The cast is the strength of the film. Jude Law as Will paints a believable picture of a man who seemingly has everything he wants but still feels empty. Juliette Binoche plays Amira as a mother who is willing to do anything to protect her son, including denying her own happiness. Rafi Gavron is convincing as a smart young man who lacks direction and gets into trouble because of it. He also has good rapport with Binoche and exhibits athletic talent in the free running scenes. Vera Farmiga has a funny turn as a hooker who has philosophical discussions with Law's character as he stakes out his office. Other good performances come from Robin Wright Penn as Liv, Poppy Rogers as Bea, Martin Freeman as Will's business partner, Ray Winstone as the detective investigating the burglaries, and Caroline Chikezie as a cleaning woman who likes Kafka.
Overall, a solid and respectable film, but not good enough to demand a viewing at your local cinema. Wait for the video release instead.
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