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Reviews Counted:21
Fresh:13
Rotten:8
Average Rating:5.4/10
Synopsis: The tale of a mentally challenged young man named Bobby (Christian Bale), who runs away from home to escape an abusive stepfather (Daniel Benzali) who has been tormenting and slaughtering his... [More]
Starring: Christian Bale, John Hurt, Daniel Benzali, James Faulkner
Director: Jeremy Thomas
Based on a 1969 novel by the late Walker Hamilton, this moody film is ravishingly beautiful to look at and refreshingly unlike the glib, movie-centric crime thrillers so popular with younger first-time directors.
Given his uncompromising work with the likes of Roeg, Bertolucci and Cronenberg, Thomas' directorial debut is surprisingly bland.
Bale nimbly walks a fine line between Bobby's handicap and an increasingly mature comprehension of what he must do to survive.
Top CriticNo review available.
A brave effort, certainly different, but all too emphatically an allegory.
Christian Bale is utterly sympathetic and engaging as Bobby. He convincingly communicates both the simplicity and chaos of his character's personality and gives the film a strong emotional core.
No review available.
Odd and banal.
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No review available.
No review available.
It moves from a Cinderella fairytale with Rain Man pathos to the good-versus-evil realm of daytime soap operas (minus the sexual content).
The ingredients all seem to be there for a rich, emotionally engrossing movie experience, but the storytelling flair and directorial touch are not.
Interesting despite its hipster crypticism and an imperfect finale. Is Christian Bale in every film Lions Gate has made?
A strangely intriguing, darkly made, psychological allegory based on the late Walker Hamilton's only novel.
If you can allow for one irrational and unbelievable scene involving Bobby and Summers' trip to London, you're left with a decent, small- scale movie, perhaps more suitable for video than the large screen.
The adoption of 19th-century-melodrama conventions seems motivated mainly by a desire to tap into the emotional intensity they offer. I was enthralled by these tactics, but some viewers might gag.
The screenplay is so lacking in narrative sensibilities, it's difficult to enumerate all its failings.
Quite the off-kilter, half-baked eco-sermon to begin with, Thomas's movie crumbles in its last quarter or so like a stack of supermarket cans.
[It] refuses to reduce its story to simple terms, and the visible story seems like a manifestation of dark and secret undercurrents. Even the ending, which some will no doubt consider routine revenge, has a certain subterranean irony.
Top Critic
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