rikumovie

Harry Treadaway as Matthew

THE DISAPPEARED (2008). Director: Johnny Kevorkian.

Teenager Matthew (Harry Treadaway) has been wracked with guilt ever since he let his little brother Tom (Lewis Lemperuer Palmer) go off by himself and he disappeared and is presumed dead. Matthew's mother left years ago, and there's a story circulating that his father, Jake (Greg Wise), once broke Tom's arm. Now Harry seems to be hearing voices from his brother and seeing visions of him as well. He goes to see a medium to find out what he can, and is befriended by a neighbor named Amy (Ros Leeming), Then his best friend Simon's (Tom Felton) sister, Sophie (Georgie Groome ) goes missing. ... The Disappeared is fairly unusual at first, with an added supernatural slant, but it turns into a standard thriller at the end, and the often confusing continuity doesn't help. However, it has much atmosphere, is quite poignant, and features an outstanding performance by Treadaway, a young actor who really delivers. The other performers, including Alex Jennings as a concerned priest, are also on the money.

Verdict: Sad, supernatural British thriller. ***.

Emma gets some action

 MADAME BOVARY (2 part BBC mini-series/2000). Director: Tim Fywell.

"Truly well-bred people don't give a fig about how their domestics behave. If I hadn't been told otherwise, I would swear you were middle-class!" -- Emma Bovary to her mother-in-law

Emma (Frances O'Connor) marries country doctor Charles Bovary (Hugh Bonneville) but discovers that life with him and his termagant mother (Eileen Atkins) is devoid of the romance, excitement and poetry that she finds in the many books she reads, and her dissatisfaction grows in leaps and bounds. She meets a soul mate named Leon (Hugh Dancy), then has a full-fledged affair with wealthy Rodolphe (Greg Wise). Meanwhile her debts mount as she is taken advantage of by slimy salesman Lheureux (Keith Barron). Although longer than the superior Hollywood film, this is a truncated version of the story with graphic softcore sex scenes. The main problem is that Emma is so distinctly unlikable in this that you can hardly summon up any sympathy for her: as played by O'Connor she comes off like a trampy, utterly thoughtless social climber and nothing more. This British television production is also on the cheap side like a studio-bound soap opera; the all-important ball sequence is almost laughably brief and comparative colorless. The actors in this are all good, but none of them give what could be called a great performance.

Verdict: Stick to the novel and the Hollywood version. **.