The Forgiven, Crimes of the Future and See How They Run

Writer and director John Michael McDonagh has taken us to this very weird place in The Forgiven, a kind of westernised oasis in the middle of  the desert in Morocco. Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain are on their way to a rich person's party when tragedy strikes, or more to the point, they strike. Here is the opportunity for McDonagh to contrast Western decadence (they are all horrible bickering characters) with the poor but sensible and modest Africans.  "The tongue has no bones, sir, but it crushes all the same" says Hamid. 

The screenplay is some of the best for years, great dialogue and the large cast are generally exceptional. I'm just never sure about Matt Smith. One of the Moroccan drivers wants to go to Sweden where it is so much cooler than his burning desert that we see in most of the film. I just wonder why it was given an 18 certificate?

I don't think I have ever seen such an incoherent movie as Crimes of the Future. The story is a mess and at times inaudible. Lea Seydoux is the exception but her co-star Viggo Mortensen mumbles and Kristen Stewart's "absurd staccato performance" has no equal. I have seen so many David Cronenberg movies and sometimes when you follow a favourite director, you come a cropper. Some of his techniques are here, those ground-breaking torso plugs are from the far superior eXistenZ. The other body shots are more amusing than revolting. This was somewhat of a Cronenberg greatest hits collection and what Mark Kermode said was a "tribute to his own past". The script was apparently from 1990 and it should have stayed in the rejected folder. But memorable if not in a good way.

I was very disappointed with See How They Run. Was it meant to be a whodunnit? The clue was in the opening sequence of Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap at it's one hundredth performance. So here we are in 1953 and a brutal murder backstage. I never did understand the motive. Are we supposed to think that any member of the cast could be involved? It seemed that the idea was to completely go the opposite way to the normal set piece of the cast gathered for interview. Instead poor Sam Rockwell as the pathetic Inspector Stoppard is left chasing them around London with his unwanted but too keen assistant. Saoirse Ronan is very good as Constable Stalker but the pairing does not seem to work. A missed opportunity for this double act. 

The rest of the cast deliberately ham it up, that is except for the brilliant Ruth Wilson who is head and shoulders above them all. There are quite a few funny moments so the film is not devoid of laughs, but it is not a comedy. Unfortunately. There is, for example, a dream sequence straight out of The Shining. Writer Mark Chappell did keep the story at a good pace, but it would have made abetter TV show. And in case you wondered, the butler didn't do it.