Distributor:
Fox Home Entertainment Certificate: M15+ |
103 minutes
Director: Lisa
Cholodenko
Cast:Frances
McDormand, Kate Beckinsale, Christian Bale, Natasha McElhone Extras: Yes
Very European in feel, this low key movie from Lisa
Cholodenko is the story of a
young couple (Christian Bale and
Kate Beckinsale) who both
experience personal epiphanies.
Beckinsale and Bale play Alex and Sam, Genome student and
doctor respectively, the pair
travel to the supposedly empty
home of Sam’s record producer
mother Jane (Frances McDormand)
so that Sam can finish off his
residency at the Hausman
Neuropsychiatric Institute and
Alex can finish off her
dissertation. Jane though is
still ensconsed at home with her
toyboy boyfriend (Alessandro
Nivola), singer in the band
whose album she is producing.
Sam is none too impressed to be
sharing a home with a bunch of
slacker rockers and seeks refuge
in his work whilst Alex finds
herself being drawn towards this
seemingly dangerous lifestyle.
Alex and Sam soon find themselves pulling in different
directions, Alex towards a dodgy
ménage a trios with McDormand
and Nivola and Sam towards an
affair with his boss played by
Natasha McElhone.
This section of the movie is where it descends into
uneasiness for the viewer as McDormand’s Jane is willing to betray her
son for the sake of indulging her baser feelings, Cholodenko’s roots
in working on shows such as 6 Feet Under and Homicide means the dialogue
is always quality; The movie definitely belongs to McDormand, Beckinsale
looks delicately beautiful as always and Bale seems to sleepwalk through
most of his scenes, only showing any spark of emotion when confronted
with the realisation of what his girlfriend and mother are upto.
The soundtrack is fantastic too, Nivola, looking and acting
very much the rock star, has a couple of songs of real quality to sing. LaurelCanyon is certainly worth
watching for the performance of an unrestrained McDormand.
EXTRAS: Commentary from director Cholodenko;
blandish feature on the making of the movie; music video of the very
good song Some Day I’ll Treat You Good by Alessandro Nivola; Cast
filmographies, photo gallery, the trailer and other trailers for Fox
product.
