Franklyn

Although this escaped into the world with only lukewarm reviews, I finally managed to catch up with Franklyn tonight, and enjoyed it immensely. It's admittedly not for everyone. Taking place in modern day London, as well as a the dystopian future Meanwhile City (where church and state are one), Gerald McMorrow's feature film debut deserves to be celebrated, not just because it's a pretty satisfying story that refuses to explain where it's going until it's good and ready, but also because it's nice to see a new Brit movie maker who can make something as visionary as established fantasy movie makers like Terry Gilliam and Tim Burton, but on a minimal budget.
While the aetheist vigilante Ryan Phillipe wears a hollow eyed mask in search of his nemesis, The Individual in Meanwhile City, in a more prosaic London, jilted groom, Sam Riley goes in search of his childhood sweetheart, Bernard Hill searches for his estranged war damaged son, and Eva Green makes video installations of herself comitting suicide.
It's an audacious (and sometimes a little bit pretentious) bit of storytelling; a scattered jigsaw of pieces that gradually begin to form a satisfyingly complete picture, while playing with comic book mythology and the notion of perception and fantasy.
The design of Meanwhile City is a ruined gothic delight, the acting is subtle and the writing sensitive and low key. I hope that despite the somewhat muted response to the movie, McMorrow can follow Franklyn up with more of the same. We need more Brit directors with this kind of vision. It's interesting to note that McMorrow started out as a runner on the movie Hardware; there's a hint of that DIY spirit that Richard Stanley started out with in Franklyn. Lets hope McMorrow doesn't end up with such a disastrous career...