Mr. Foe is Cool

ahhhh! Tis Friday and thats always a good thing, and to end the week on a positive note, finally FINALLY the big movie sites (here in the US that is) are starting to review Mister Foe....oh wait- its now apparently MR. Foe, cause as we know, we Americans can't get big words like Hallam and esp stuff like 'Mister' all spelled out you know... meh

Anyway, Aint It Cool posted a very good review of Mr. Foe from the Hawaiian film fest, where apparently the reviewer actually knew the film makers and the film was set in SCOTLAND (and not Ireland like the local press corp though lol) More importantly, the reviewer also seemed to actually get what was happening on the screen, as this report reads:

MR FOE succeeds partially due to the fine work of its director David Mackenzie. Mackenzie( who co-wrote the film's script as well) skillfully steers his actors through the film's slightly creepy material but wisely decides not overload the film with a darkly overwrought tone but lightens the mood at the times.

The result is a film that feels transitional throughout-moving from light to dark touches-just as it moves from the sylvan countryside to the urban but not unpleasant cityscape.

Mackenzie also gets fine performances from his cast in particular Jamie Bell as the film's main character Hallum.

Bell does fine work in MR. FOE in creating a nuanced character out of what could have a one-dimensional part. Bell is so good here because he portrays Hallum not merely as a obsessive mother-loving peeping tom but as a young man on the cusp of adulthood who is wrestling with his issues and interests on the way to becoming a man.

Notice how Bell balances a somewhat mild, quiet persona with impassioned verbal precision. When Hallum does speak, he knows precisely what he wants and states exactly what his demands are.

What I enjoyed about MR FOE is that it that the film is a true coming of age story that manages to bypass the potential mine fields of obsessive whodunits and creepy melodrama and aims for a slight richer and more evolved canvas on which to paint its characters and backdrop.

By the final images of MR. FOE in which Jamie Bell is walking down with a smile on his face, we can understand why the film is called MR. FOE because Hallum has moved away from the obsessions of boyhood and is beginning his path into adulthood.

Side note: The word is now spreading about the June 6 release date as MRMovietimes.com (look!another Mr..... :P) are also starting to carry more about this film including this date and also the "R" rating for the movie.