If he only knew what she was doing.
Peacock by Michael Lander
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Blurb: In small town Nebraska, in an unspecified but presumably 1950s-ish past, John, a socially awkward bank clerk, lives with Emma, a shy and unassuming housewife, a wife that the rest of the town didn't know existed. She just happens to be the other side of his fractured personality. (I assure you this is not a spoiler.) One morning a train crashes in to their backyard and Emma is revealed to the townsfolk. John's carefully constructed life slowly begins to unravel as Emma's starts to bloom.
Cillian Murphy is phenomenal as John and Emma, two parts of a split personality, and that reason alone makes the film worth seeing and certainly made it worth a cinematic release. I can't see how any other actor could have put in a better performance in 2010 and yet the unforgivable decision to skip even the festival circuit has robbed him of any industry recognition. He really is a beautiful woman too. It's quite unfair.
Michael Lander directs with restraint to create a slow moving psychological drama filled with superb cinematography thanks to the wonderful Philipe Rousselot and a pervasive creepiness through interesting use of the mise-en-scene and subtle musical cues. Throughout the 90 minute runtime I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't watching a Todd Haynes movie, it is that beautiful and meticulously crafted.
Questions are not answered, the viewer is challenged, brain cells are forced to engage. The plot unfolds with hints and clues, nods and tips of the hat, and still you do not really know which way anything will go, what is a subtle red herring, what you are imagining and what is intended. It's quite the marvel indeed and will almost certainly reward repeat viewings, unlike other more gimmicky split personality/psychotic break movies.
I cannot recommend this movie enough, however if you like your narrative cinema to be "normal" you may find yourself getting frustrated and angry with the content, as Peacock is most definitely not the kind of film you would describe as normal.
It is as good as this kind of movie can possibly get in my opinion and I only wish I hadn't waited 2 years to watch my copy.
Anyone actually seen this one? Who won the Best Actor Oscar in 2011? I bet they weren't as good as Murphy whoever they were. Comments anyone?
This movie is so shockingly fantastic that it is so sad how it was handled. This is hands down my favourite Cillian Murphy performance, and had this been in the hands of a better supplier, he would have been a big name in the Oscar race. Such a shame that he wasn't!
ReplyDeleteHey Stevee. I was looking at the Wiki for Mandate Pictures, the production company involved. It has a list of all of their movies with distribution company in brackets. Peacock is the only film without a distribution company listed. So sad. They've had a whole lot of good to great films go through them so it's not as if they haven't had to push difficult material in the past either. Although having said that, all but one or two were pretty low-key releases.
DeleteDid you at least make up for it a little by highlighting the copies in your video store and forcing it upon the right customers?
Hey, I enjoyed your review. I've been aware of this film for a while and wanted to see it but here in the UK it frustratingly didn't even get a DVD release (like you I can't understand why and also lamented it on my blog). Thankfully I've now managed to find a Region 1 copy (Czech release but in English with subs) so can finally watch it
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by Scene. I hope you enjoy it when your DVD finally arrives. There are so many mediocre movies getting made it really does seem like a travesty when something with this much quality gets ignored completely. We should consider it our mission to recommend it to everyone we meet.
DeleteNice review Toby. Still haven't seen this one, but it's been on my watchlist ever since Stevee mentioned it on her blog. I'm a Cillian Murphy fan, so I really should give this a look.
ReplyDeleteCheers Josh. That's two recommendations now, you should definitely bump it up your "to watch" list.
DeleteThanks for all the comments, I've been particularly slack in leaving comments on blogs recently so it's appreciated and a good reminder.
Don't mention it. Happy to comment, man.
DeleteThis is awesome!
ReplyDelete