DEATH DEFYING ACTS - Review.
March 28th 2008 05:37
RELEASE DATE : 13th March 2008.
RUNNING TIME: 100 mins.
CAST: Catherine Zeta-Jones – Mary McGarvie
Guy Pearce – Harry Houdini
Timothy Spall – Sugarman
Saoirse Ronan – Benji McGarvie.
DIRECTOR: Gillian Armstrong
WRITING CREDITS: Tony Grisoni , Brian Ward.
DISTRIBUTOR: DENDY FILMS (AUSTRALIA)
SYNOPSIS: World Famous Illusionist Harry Houdini brings his travelling show to Edinburgh in 1926 and offers £10,000 to anyone who can tell him what his mother’s dying words were. A young mother and daughter team decide to con the famous artiste by gaining his trust. But then the unexpected happens when romance begins to blossom. During Harry Houdini's tour of Britain in 1926, the master escapologist enters into a passionate affair with a Scottish psychic. The psychic and her daughter attempt to con Houdini during a highly publicized séance to contact his mother whose death has haunted him for many years. However all does not go to plan
REVIEW: A love story about an illusionist and a con artist. Re-imagining the life of Harry Houdini depicting the human side of the world famous illusionist definitely has promise, but for some reason this film never quite reaches it’s potential.
One reason for this could be the lack of on screen chemistry between Guy Pearce (Houdini) and Catherine Zeta-Jones (McGarvie). The two may be quiet talented and have taken on far more difficult roles but this pairing just seems a mismatch. The film fails to capture the complexity of the characters, moving too quickly after barely establishing who they are and what they do. The feeling of guilt by Houdini that he wasn’t by his mothers side at her hour of death and the obvious Oedipus complex is awkward and uncomfortable and never explored to it’s potential. The desperation of a young single mother in a time of struggle is also never fully realised. At no point is the audience led to feel any real empathy towards the characters.
Mother and daughter have formed a relationship that is more that of two quibbling sisters with the young Benji McGarvie the one who keeps an eye on everything resolving any problems the two might have along the way as they struggle to survive in early Twentieth Century Scotland. It is she who along with Sugarman played by Timothy Spall who try to end what can only be a doomed relationship and it is these two who seem to hold together what is unfortunately a muddled script.
Spall’s once again puts in a steady performance as Houdini’s manager and confidante, but he is never allowed to fully develop and both he and Ronan are left like a pair of bookends at either end of the performances of Pearce and Zeta-Jones. Ronan seems well cast as the feisty daughter always with one eye on the task at hand while keeping an eye out for any pitfalls there may be along the way.
At times the film starts heading in the right direction, but is let down by a script and a storline that never quite grabs your attention.
RANKING 5/10
SJC.
RUNNING TIME: 100 mins.
CAST: Catherine Zeta-Jones – Mary McGarvie
Guy Pearce – Harry Houdini
Timothy Spall – Sugarman
Saoirse Ronan – Benji McGarvie.
DIRECTOR: Gillian Armstrong
WRITING CREDITS: Tony Grisoni , Brian Ward.
DISTRIBUTOR: DENDY FILMS (AUSTRALIA)
SYNOPSIS: World Famous Illusionist Harry Houdini brings his travelling show to Edinburgh in 1926 and offers £10,000 to anyone who can tell him what his mother’s dying words were. A young mother and daughter team decide to con the famous artiste by gaining his trust. But then the unexpected happens when romance begins to blossom. During Harry Houdini's tour of Britain in 1926, the master escapologist enters into a passionate affair with a Scottish psychic. The psychic and her daughter attempt to con Houdini during a highly publicized séance to contact his mother whose death has haunted him for many years. However all does not go to plan
REVIEW: A love story about an illusionist and a con artist. Re-imagining the life of Harry Houdini depicting the human side of the world famous illusionist definitely has promise, but for some reason this film never quite reaches it’s potential.
One reason for this could be the lack of on screen chemistry between Guy Pearce (Houdini) and Catherine Zeta-Jones (McGarvie). The two may be quiet talented and have taken on far more difficult roles but this pairing just seems a mismatch. The film fails to capture the complexity of the characters, moving too quickly after barely establishing who they are and what they do. The feeling of guilt by Houdini that he wasn’t by his mothers side at her hour of death and the obvious Oedipus complex is awkward and uncomfortable and never explored to it’s potential. The desperation of a young single mother in a time of struggle is also never fully realised. At no point is the audience led to feel any real empathy towards the characters.
Mother and daughter have formed a relationship that is more that of two quibbling sisters with the young Benji McGarvie the one who keeps an eye on everything resolving any problems the two might have along the way as they struggle to survive in early Twentieth Century Scotland. It is she who along with Sugarman played by Timothy Spall who try to end what can only be a doomed relationship and it is these two who seem to hold together what is unfortunately a muddled script.
Spall’s once again puts in a steady performance as Houdini’s manager and confidante, but he is never allowed to fully develop and both he and Ronan are left like a pair of bookends at either end of the performances of Pearce and Zeta-Jones. Ronan seems well cast as the feisty daughter always with one eye on the task at hand while keeping an eye out for any pitfalls there may be along the way.
At times the film starts heading in the right direction, but is let down by a script and a storline that never quite grabs your attention.
RANKING 5/10
SJC.
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Comment by John Woods