I certainly am glad that I saw "Juno" before seeing this earlier movie starring young Ellen Page, or I might have given it a wide berth after viewing the frightening character she creates here. Mind you, that she can move from the chilling teenager of this film to the charming one in the more recent is proof positive of her acting versatility and skill.
She plays an overly bright 14-year old who agrees to meet up with a 32-year old photographer (Patrick Wilson) who has been chatting her up on the internet. Immediately our suspicions are aroused as he takes her to his home and plies her with drink. However, the tables are soon turned when we learn that she has drugged his drink; he awakes he finds himself trussed up on the kitchen table, pants down, and threatened with castration with Page describing the operation in excruciating detail. It seems that she has deliberately been stalking him and is convinced that he is guilty of paedophilia and possibly even murder. The cat and mouse games continue until the chilling conclusion and one can only assume that Wilson's deep-rooted feelings of guilt prevent his overpowering the youngster when the opportunity occurs.
This is one truly disturbing film and anything but an easy watch. That it is an original production from the MTV music channel, the product of music video-background director David Slade and first-time original screenwriter Brian Nelson, makes it all the more surprising. Now that Page has had her Oscar nod for "Juno", people are likely to seek out this earlier performance. Like me, they are in for something of a shocking discovery.
2 comments:
But then 'uneasy', as Haneke points out makes good cinema - it makes you watch, even if you're not sure you like the part of yourself that feels compelled to.... or something like that.....
Overly bright is an understatement if one takes the plot at face value. She seems to have acquired a lot of knowledge and, as is increasingly apparent, has
not selected her victim at random but after what may well have been a lot more
detective work than the police were able to do since she narrows the link down to
one specific dead girl - I thought that somewhat spoilt the effect as did the grown
man's failure to overpower her though the drug she used may have been a major
factor in this. Page is first-rate in the role and Patrick Wilson is a more than
adequate foil for what is a true tour de force.
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