User Reviews

This film is based on the novel by Alexander Trocchi and those that have read it may find more insight to certain scenes while others may consider this a let down but my own personal view is that it's an interesting film about cynical characters that still feel guilt about their own actions. Story takes place in the early 1960's in Scotland where we see three characters and a small boy living and working on a river barge. Joe Taylor (Ewan McGregor) works for Les Gault (Peter Mullan) who's married to Ella (Tilda Swinton) and they work and live on their barge Atlantic Eve going back and forth from Edinburgh to Glasgow. One day Joe and Les fish the body of a woman out of the river and call the police who take her away but the authorities have a difficult time figuring out who she is and how she ended up in the river.

*****SPOILER ALERT*****

Joe and Ella start an affair but it doesn't take long before Les finds out and since the barge is owned by Ella it's Les who moves out but while all this is going on the police have found out that the woman in the river has been identified and was dating a married plummer who is now on trial for murder. What everyone doesn't know is that Joe knows the woman and her name is Cathie (Emily Mortimer) and he knows how she died but he doesn't tell anyone the circumstances that could free the man on trial.

Directed by David Mackenzie this intriguing little film is reminiscent of the film noir efforts of the 1940's and 1950's although with all the sex and nudity it's certainly one that is played for modern art house audiences. The cast is exceptional and both McGregor and Swinton have built their impressive careers by being able to play such diverse roles and this is no exception. Mullan with his terrific face is one of those great characters actors who never gives a bad performance and he appears born to play a tough guy who works on a river barge. On the surface the story for this film has it's characters behaving like cold hearted cynics incapable of any type of sorrow or pity for others but if you take a good look what this film really is about is unrelenting guilt. Joe does feel guilt for his actions and Ella for her husband Les and the three of them are compelled by the trial of the plummer. Even though their guilt is stemmed for different reasons it seems to bring them to the same place but the film shows that not everyone acts out on their guilt for moral reasons. It's a hard story about tough skinned characters who seem at odds about their morality and that's what makes this film so intriguing.

I think the title Young Adam is a reference to the many legends that Adam, before partnering with Eve, had a previous wife named Lilith. Jewish legend sometimes identifies her with the Devil, and the origin of the wives of Cain and Seth was said to be in this supposed union with Lilith. The point as it affects the movie is that the entire action can be seen as a reflection or remembrance by a person who has since assumed an entire new life and role, who while resembling the character we watch in some ways, has left him behind. Note that the flashbacks in this film are completely unheralded; there are no cinematic devices to alert us to the fact that we are watching events that are past history. A voice-over narration was originally projected and partially recorded, but it was dropped from the final film. There can be no "director's cut" of this movie because what you see is the director's cut.

This film has the air of a film noir, and its essence is the moral consideration of the central character. A turning point is the drowning of the woman whose corpse is discovered at the beginning of the movie, played by Emily Mortimer. After several viewings, it has become clear to me that she grabs at his arm, trying to prevent him from leaving, and stumbles when he pulls his arm away sharply. He does not push her, nor even look at her, and it is clear from her actions that she has simply lost her footing. The most striking thing is that she then vanishes into the water almost without a sound. I am sure that filming the scene this way was a deliberate choice of the director. Her silence, the absence of screams, and the way she disappears before one even realizes what has happened, surrounds the event with mystery, and raises questions in the viewer's mind, questions that the film wants the viewer to ask. How far is he responsible for her death? Did he murder her or was it accidental? The ambiguity of the event is essential to what follows.

The decision to use the bargeman's wife and the world of her barge as a way of unfolding the history of the main character is interesting. It is an artifice that does not feel artificial. Tilda Swinton's sensitive performance allows us the possibility to feel compassion for this woman's condition and fate, without in any way softening the edges of her character. The film allows both comparisons and contrasts between her and the main character, both of whom rebel against their fates. Observe that the character and motives of the murdered girl and of the bargeman husband appear by comparison straightforward and uncomplicated. One could justly compare the naturalistic view of character in this film to the novels of Crane, Dreiser, Flaubert and Zola. The people are viewed with a kind of detachment rare in American films. The beauty of the countryside is effective as a setting for the rather stark and bitter dramas that these characters enact, and it dominates the opening movements of the tale. The slow pace of the film is also a naturalistic choice, conveying a sense of the monotony of these lives, and the meditative air is helped by the brooding score by David Byrne of Talking Heads fame.

It would be worth some study to see how the flashback scenes are timed in relation to the action in the "present" (as I said, the entire film could be seen as a flashback from some unknown future existence of the main character). The structure is complex without being a gimmick. At one point you see the barge going into a tunnel, and Ewan MacGregor is seen in silhouette, piloting the vessel from some point of view inside the tunnel. And in the flashback scene we are about to enter, the character is indeed entering a kind of dark tunnel. When we emerge from this tunnel at the end of the film we don't have every answer, but the irrevocable path this man has taken awakens a sense of wonder at his tragedy. Especially as the film draws to its end we are watching the steady unraveling of his character.

In a sense the anomie of working class life is the subject of this film. As in film noir detective films, the action seems to occur inside the central character's head. All the real events are of the mind and heart, and the art of the film is to suggest them entirely by means of exterior events. As one is led to the question of this man's guilt by watching him respond to the trial of another man, a gradual yet very effective suspense develops. A comparison to films like The Postman Always Rings Twice (remade by Visconti in Italy as Obsession) and This Sporting Life suggests itself. The sentencing of the innocent man, one more victim, provides the denouement, and one has the sense that sentence has been passed upon the protagonist as well. The ending, unfortunately just a little contrived and clichéd, is the weakest aspect of this very good film. I was particularly struck by the film's meditative character, which is very well sustained, by its overall unity, and by the acting performances.

I have no idea what the meaning of the title is, maybe something to do with Adam and Eve, but I guess it doesn't matter, this sounded like a good film to try, and the cast list was very appealing, so I watched. Basically Joe Taylor (BAFTA Scotland winning Ewan McGregor) is the young drifter who works on the barge owned by Les Gault (Peter Mullan) and his wife Ella (BAFTA Scotland winning Tilda Swinton), they travel between Glasgow and Edinburgh transporting coal and other cargo. One day Joe and Les find the body of a dead young woman floating in the water wearing nothing but a petticoat, and they drag it out for the police to determine whether it was a murder, a suicide or an accident. As his work continues, Joe starts looking at Ella in a different way, slowly and eventually managing to seduce her with his attraction for her, and with Les not around they start a sexual affair. As the police investigates the death of the woman, and they are putting the blame on her ex, we find out from flashbacks that Joe knows more than he is admitting. Before the death happened, he met the beautiful young office worker Cathie Dimly (Emily Mortimer), who he also manage to charm her, they start living together and have a lot of passionate sex. As Les becomes aware of the affair between Joe and Ella, that is when in the flashbacks it is revealed that the dead body is indeed Cathie, and she fell in the water by accident, after admitting that she was pregnant with Joe's baby. We also see in further flashback that Joe had an aggressive side, and back in the current time he is still keeping quiet about his involvement with Cathie. In the end Cathie's ex is found guilty of murder and no proof is found that it was an accidentally death, Joe leaves Ella and Les's canal boat with nothing but a guilty conscience. Also starring Jack McElhone as Jim Gault, Therese Bradley as Gwen, Ewan Stewart as Daniel Gordon, Stuart McQuarrie as Bill and Pauline Turner as Connie. McGregor, putting his meat and two veg on show once again, is really good as the conflicted and sex addict, Swinton does almost steal the show as the sex-craving barge woman, who also gets naked, and Mortimer in the flashbacks is very good, with her clothes off too. The film is just stuffed with sexual scenes, and with the dead body premise it combines film noir and melodrama, all adding up to a well crafted and most watchable period drama. It won the BAFTAs Scotland for Best Director for David Mackenzie and Best Film. Ewan McGregor was number 9 on The 100 Greatest Movie Stars, he was number 2 on The 50 Greatest British Actors, and Emily Mortimer was number 47, and Tilda Swinton number 44 on The 50 Greatest British Actresses. Very good!

Joe, a failed writer, takes up a job working on a barge on the Clyde. The job provides young Joe with every opportunity and experience an educated and aspiring existentialist might need to develop. Flashbacks reveal that Joe has set himself in such a mould, a special man, far above the bland observations of a mere novelist. However, as the story unfolds the shallowness of his position becomes more and more clear. The death of Joe's ex-girlfriend, though accidental, is also cynically convenient and her death provides the turning point through which the film explores the mind of Joe and the superficiality of his life. The story is engrossing, Joe, our "Young Adam" happy to partake of the fruits of the garden of Eden, but devoid of wisdom - the knowledge of good and evil, Joe's perception of himself and the glory of this young Adam is nothing but a sham.

Spoiler didnt like it much

the book was an enigma wrapped in a riddle

this was just cheeky chappie Ewan shagging everything in sight and allowing the innocent guy to take the rap. just for example - the book never made it clear as to whether he had murdered the girl plus Trochi had him going into a cop shop at the end - thus it left one wondering.

the pathetic attempt to be controversial with the custard, or whatever it was, sex scene was risible.

dismal!