Franklyn

So I saw this trailer a while ago and it really intrigued me. I've been burnt by trailers like that before, however. For example, the trailer for The Fountain promised an epic love story across two centuries and whilst this was technically true, the film came across as extremely asinine.

It was with a healthy degree of cynicism, therefore, that I approached Franklyn and....

Wow.

I now have a new favorite Clever Film. I'm wary of giving too much away as the way the film portrays events and the drip feed of information it gives you is part of the brilliance surrounding it.

For example, the film constantly withholds information from you. One character, for instance, is looking for his son. You never see the picture he shows people of the boy. In a normal film, you'd think "ah, there's some sort of twist there, then" but the film also carefully withholds so many other bits of information (with a considerably amount of skill, it must be said) that you're never sure what's relevant and what's not.

The visual style is superb - one of the stories has a Gothic feeling which perfectly captured the Victorian fascination with the macabre (which is what I've always loved about gothism). The acting is brilliant as well. I had literally no idea that one of the main characters was played by Vesper Lynd from Casino Royale until I saw the credits - she gives an astonishingly good performance - she's disconnected, heart broken and rebellious but has a playful side.

I really can't recommend this film enough. It's not particularly action packed - despite how the trailer represents it... if the trailer intrigues you, I'd definitely recommend checking it out, it's out on DVD in this country in late June.