Ewan McGregor is now a major Hollywood
star, but the quality of his performances have
not necessarily correlated with his meteoric
rise to stardom. Some of his best work still
dates back to his low-budget roots in early
works like "Shallow Grave" and
"Trainspotting." Until now, that is. Never have
his talents been so evident than in this
tour-de-force performance in David
McKenzie's highly impressive second film,
"Young Adam," adapted from the 1950s novel
of Beat generation figure Alexander
Trocchi.Onscreen throughout, McGregor plays
the enigmatic Joe, an existential drifter
working on a barge owned by Ella (Tilda
Swinton) and Les (Peter Mullan) in the canals
between Glasgow and Edinburgh. When he
brazenly starts an affair with a very willing Ella
under her husband's nose, a pressure cooker
atmosphere heats up on board.
Simultaneously, Joe's discovery of the corpse
of an attractive woman in the river creates an
intersecting thriller narrative that gradually
pieces together the mosaic fragments of Joe's
past life as an aspiring writer in a previous
volatile relationship. As investigations close
in, McKenzie ups the ante, deftly interweaving
the claustrophobic crucible of the barge with
the arrest of the alleged murderer.
McKenzie, whose considerable talent was
evident in his debut feature, "The Last Great
Wilderness," elicits understated but very
strong performances from his cast (with the
exception of Mullan, who's a little too easily
subdued in an uncharacteristic role of weak
loser husband). McGregor injects the lead
with a potent mix of callous sensuality,
laid-back intelligence and emotionally sparse
charisma.
But McKenzie's achievements
lie far deeper, in stylishly crafting a morbidly
poetic aesthetic evocative of 1940s and '50s
film noir in which his dysfunctional antihero
becomes an integral part of the emotionally
suppressed landscape.
For those who
prefer their thrills via erotic action, McKenzie
also delivers, doing for custard what
Bertolucci did for butter in "Last Tango in
Paris."
Starring Ewan
McGregor, Tilda Swinton, Peter
Mullan and Emily Mortimer. Directed and
written by David McKenzie. Produced by
Jeremy Thomas. A Sony Pictures Classics
release. Drama/Thriller. Not yet rated.
Running time: 93 min
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