Separate Lies
Rating: ***
It's very British, very propah, and quite Agatha Christieish. A middle-aged lawyer's marriage to his younger wife (Tom Wilkinson-Emma Watson) is on the verge of collapse. Arrives a cricket-playing, wealthy young man (Rupert Everett) and the stage is set for a triangular adulterous drama. But hang on, there's a dead body, a rather intrusive maid and plenty of sinister goings-on behind the doors of English countryside manors. It's the first film directed by Julian Fellowes (who won the Best Screenplay Oscar for Gosford Park), and it's not bad. Expert performances from Wilkinson and Watson, as the headed-for-separation couple, keep you rooted in this psycho-mystery.
Where the Truth Lies
Rating: ***
Atom Egoyan, the master director of such memorable films as Exotica and Felicia's Journey, was panned mercilessly by most critics for his most commercial (read comprehensible) film to date. But it turns out to be an engrossing, extremely stylish and simply plotted story of a nosey journalist (Karen O'Connor) who sets out to investigate the murder committed years ago of a hotel waitress.
The prime suspects are two men (Colin Firth-Kevin Bacon), who once used to perform together at night clubs, alluding to the Dean Martin-Jerry Lewis pair. Not entirely satisfactory – especially the end – Egoyan's film is still worth a look for its visual flair, finely nuanced performances and a script that sets out to investigate the truth, only to convey that there's nothing like the absolute truth after all.
Tale of Two Sisters
Rating: **
You have to like arty, weird and slow-tempo horror movies to relate to this South Korean movie about two teenaged sisters. They seem to have just come out of psychiatric care andvisit a lonely, old house with their dad (who doesn't talk much) and their stepmom (who talks too much). Well, now blood drips, interstines are found in a bed (ugh), and you can't tell whether all the ghoulish events are really taking place or are figments of the sisters' imagination. An American remake is already in the works of this spookfest directed by Kim Jee Woon.
Rating:
Outstanding:*****
Very Good: ****
Good: ***
Average **
Poor: *
