Elegy

Character-driven, grown-up and slow-burning are perhaps not the most inspirational adjectives to open a review of a film you've just seen and loved but they do have one thing in common. Hyphens? No, I'm talking about the fact that they tend to be appropriate descriptors of films that is usually right up my street. If done badly these movies are often as dull as the adjectives that describe them, but in the right hands they can be every bit as gripping as a break-neck action film or unpredictable thriller. The thing about character-driven movies is that there's a greater focus on the inhabitants of the film, and by necesseity the quality of acting in such pictures is usually first rate. Indeed the quality of acting can rarely be better than it is here with a brilliant cast excelling as individuals and as an ensemble. Peter Sarsgaard, Patricia Clarkson and Dennis Hopper are all outstanding in supporting turns, but the film belongs to Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz, both of whome make a lasting impression as a couple who fall in love despite their 30 year age gap.

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You Kill Me

Ben Kingsley has played baddies before and created one of cinemas all time greats in Don Logan, in 2001's Sexy Beast. He turns his hand at playing the bad guy once more as Frank Falenczyk in John Dahl's You Kill Me, however, despite his best efforts, a weak script and pallid direction can't liven up a comedy drama that is neither comedic or dramatic enough to satisfy.

There are similarities between Kingsley's creations of Don and Frank. Both have a certain nervous twitchiness about them whilst somehow maintaining a hugely imposing figure and despite their huge moral deficiencies they both manage to be rather sympathetic characters. With better material Kingsley may have been able to snare awards notice once again, however that is not to say he gets anywhere close to the level of brilliance he created with Logan - truly the best performance of that and many other years. Indeed it's one of the rare occasions where Matt and I are in total agreement.

This might be worthy of a Best Comedy Actor nod or something of that nature at the Golden Globes but he's really paddling upstream against a current in the form of a screenplay that is at worst very dull and at best mildly entertaining. I'm not sure I've ever seen a good film starring Tea Leoni so that doesn't help and none of the supporting characters, even those that are truly good actors (Phillip Baker Hall), make an impression. Luke Wilson should be asking his agent why he's got a small, insignificant part in a film like this.

The action sequences are poorly constructed and offer no excitement or tension. There are some moments, all of which involve Kinglsey, that make you smirk and you maybe wonder whether there's a decent film in here trying to break free but at the end of your 90 minutes you'll instantly forget everything you've just seen and feel an uncontrollable desire to watch Sexy Beast and catch Kingsley tear up the screen with a performance in a film that has a screenplay to match.

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