User Reviews

"The Cry of the Owl" is a 2009 Canadian psychological-drama with thriller elements based on the Patricia Highsmith novel. The story revolves around Robert Forrester (Paddy Considine) who has a great job, but is in the process of a divorce and has recently moved out of the big city. He becomes intrigued by a random girl he spots at a country house and secretly gazes at her from the woods at night. A relationship eventually develops and the girl, Jenny (Julia Stiles), starts overly-monitoring him and he begins to regret the relationship. Meanwhile, Jenny's ex (James Gilbert) isn't happy about the situation and neither is Robert's ex (Caroline Dhavernas). The situation soon spirals out of control.

The story is fairly engaging and the actors are effective, particularly Considine as the protagonist, but the ending is ambiguous and left to interpretation. Regardless, the themes are intriguing: romanticism vs. logic, fate and fatalism vs. chance encounter, omens and signs vs. random happenings and the irony of role reversal or reaping what you sow.

It's not great and it's too pessimistic -- probably because it's really a tragedy -- but it's a solid psycho-drama with intriguing ideas that'll leave you pondering or scratching your head. The latter is why many people don't like it.

The film runs 100 minutes and was shot in Ontario.

GRADE: B

I have never read the novel, nor heard of the movie. After reading some of the reviews here, I decided to give it a shot. And I have to say, I do not regret it.

This is a very dark movie with disturbed main characters, greatly acted by Robert Considine and Julia Stiles. This isn't your typical fast-paced Hollywood thriller. I consider this movie to be "different", the plot develops slowly and is very unpredictable, which makes it in my opinion very enjoyable.

I totally recommend this movie to anyone, who likes dramas / thrillers with a dark touch, and enjoys great acting.

I give it a 7 out of 10.

Paddy Considine as Robert Forrester is very good here. He is a man going through an at-fault divorce, Caroline Dhavernas is irritating as ex- wife Nikki. He relocates and changes jobs from New York City to get away from her and start over. He thinks.

The story of a hapless man, he tries to do his best but married to an albatross like Nicki who pokes fun at him at a divorce mediation, he eventually leaves NYC to find a fork in the road...he chooses a Northeast Pennsylvania town, where he works for Lavigne aeronautics and seems to settle.

He sort of stalks Julia Stiles "Jenny Thierault", by watching her for a month at her rural house, she seems happy in life and this gives him a semblance of hope for his own new life. Stiles is very good here as instead of rejecting Robert as unstable, as he is watching her from her backyard, she says "depression can crush you" and invites him for coffee. He takes this as empathy, and is surprised she is interested in him at this point.

As things develop we feel for Robert who is going through divorce and suddenly realizes his minor interest in Jenny, is (to Jenny at least ) a true romance. She appears to be a borderline personality, she understands depression, but also becomes attached too quickly to any man who appears. She dumps her brutish boyfriend (Greg Wyncoop) and begins to pursue Robert more vehemently. At first he hides, then submits to her for the physical benefit. Her girlfriend sees Jenny as needing protection, and warns Robert not to hurt her.

Robert knows, deep down it is wrong, but when he tries to confront Jenny after they spend a night together she starts making blueberry pancakes and telling Robert if she were to be on death row this is her favorite last meal, and she'd want to hear vintage Louis Armstrong.

The photography and foreshadowing is noteworthy here.The cry of the owl resounds one night they are in bed together and Jenny is jolted awake. It's nuanced, which may be why (unfortunately ), it was not as widely distributed. The minor suspense points here are similar to Hitchcock, and very rare in film made in Hollywood today, sadly.

This is an excellent suspense film. Even Julia Styles, who I rememberer from only a few previous performances, is perfect here as Jenny, attractive but lost, a winsome sad smile, and need for ...love or something more. Considine also, despite how he befalls the horrible fate, being wrongfully accused of murder etc., is sympathetic in that he is overcoming a breakdown (from his ex-wife goading him).

There is a twist I will not reveal which will make you want to read all of Patricia Highsmith's short stories. "The Cry of The Owl" is haunting and real. 10/10.

Robert Forrester (Paddy Considine) is struggling to divorce his vengeful wife Nickie (Caroline Dhavernas), and he starts peeping in on the simple isolated life of Jenny Thierolf (Julia Stiles). Then she catches him one night, but she invites him in. The stalker becomes the stalkee as Jenny breaks up with her fiancé Greg. Greg decides to fight Robert one night. Robert wins and leaves a drunken unconscious Greg by the side of a river. Soon after, Greg is reported missing and Robert is a suspect.

It's a good idea of dysfunctional people finding each other. Director Jamie Thraves just doesn't have the skills to elevate the tension and the drama. There is a lack of moody atmosphere that this movie desperately needs. I love all the actors involved especially Paddy. Dhavernas may be miscast as the bitch. That role needs a darker tougher chick. The potential is there, but the execution is lacking.

Mathilda May won a César for her role in this film made by Claude Chabrol in 1987. This is a remake, and it stars Julia Stiles in the role of Jenny. I have been in love with Stiles ever since The Bourne Identity, and, while she will not be as good as May, she is still Julia Stiles, and that's enough for me.

Robert's (Paddy Considine) marriage has failed, and his method of dealing with depression is to stalk Jenny, thinking she has a great relationship with her partner.

The tables get turned, and she begins stalking him. If that is not enough, her boyfriend Greg (James Gilbert) keeps trying to kick his arse. But, then he disappears, and Robert is under suspicion.

Twists and turns abound as Robert tries to figure out who is trying to kill him while everyone thinks he is a killer.

The owl cries a lot in the film. I'm just not impressed with Considine, and the ending was abrupt.

I am one of those people who believes that all good scary/thriller movies and books have one thing in common that makes them so scary: They could happen to you.

The events that take place in this movie have not happened to anyone, ever. They aren't believable, not in the least. So the film doesn't work as a drama, either, because the entire time, you're distracted, wondering: "WHEN does that happen???" Aside from the outlandish plot, the writing was clumsy. For a long time, I wasn't sure who the protagonist was supposed to be, and when I was sure, I wasn't motivated to care. I was just waiting for the movie to end. And the director, it seems, didn't care, either. Every scene went: Establishing shot, close-up of Paddy, close-up of Julia, splash of red, close-up of Paddy staring at Julia, patch of blue, scene. It didn't help that the actors were walking through their roles, too. They were bland and tasteless, and I'll be polite and leave it at that.

Five minutes in I was laughing hysterically and saying, "It's a dark comedy, right? Please tell me it's a dark comedy." If it were a dark comedy, I'd like it a lot better. Point is, it's still boring. Whether it's a drama, thriller, dark comedy, whatever the hell it was originally intended to be--believe me, I have no clue--I was bored out of my skull, and I wanted my money back.

I was drawn into this film by the uneasy feeling that the central characters were being drawn into a slow-sucking situational quicksand, an experience that for most of us only happens in nightmares.

If you prefer snappy pace and predictability in your films, move on. As the other reviews indicate, you either really like this film, or really dislike it for any number of reasons. At times I wanted to grab the "hero" by the shoulders and give him a shake to snap him out of his apparent lassitude. At that point I realized the movie was working for me, I was invested emotionally. Casting stays refreshingly clear of stereotypes with not a "pretty boy" in sight, and direction, performances and technical credits are mostly right on the mark.

This picture would have done so much better at the box office if it had let the potential audience know that Patricia Highsmith was the author of Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train." For those of us not familiar with Highsmith's work, the title "The Cry of the Owl" is just too far removed from the essence of this film to be a draw.

So when you have the opportunity to see this film, relax, put your feet up and watch the first ten or so minutes. If you fall asleep, or find your mind turning towards undone kitchen tasks, then get back to "Jersey Shore" or whatever else gives your entertainment rush. If this film passes the ten-minute endurance test, you'll find it evolves into 100 minutes of compelling entertainment, destined to linger in the dark crannies of your mind for longer than you might expect.

'The Cry of the Owl' has a wicked sense of humour. On the surface, it may appear as a thriller but it is more of a dark comedy with subtle humour. After all one cannot fail to see the irony in the premise: a stalker being stalked by his stalker. Of course, once the premise is introduced this oddly absurd movie, the story turns into a game of jealousy, betrayal and murder.

The execution is quite interesting. It has an old fashioned look to it. Most of the visuals are quite photographic. The slightly washed out colour give it a gloomy look reflecting the colourless lives of the characters. Most of the film is seen through Robert's point of view and the twists are surprising.

The film is philosophical too. Robert stalks Jenny because she represents the illusion of happiness. However, once Jenny invites him in, this illusion is shattered and he loses interest in her. In a later scene, he describes to his wife Nickie that the first time he saw her, she was like a beautiful statue and then she moved, and it was all downhill. He seems to be more fascinated by an illusion of perfection and is put off by the humanness of people.

Jenny, on the other hand, who is more messed up than Robert, thinks it's fate and that they should be together. She immediately dumps her boyfriend and stalks Robert but eventually she too realizes that her illusion is shattered and the more she tries to cling on the further he slips away. In a way, Nickie too tries to hold on to Robert and, in event, uses more extreme measures. Ideals and illusions are what instigates trouble in these characters' lives.

Paddy Considine is excellent as the awkward, passive, neurotic loner Robert. Julia Stiles is mostly very good as the pretty Jenny (even though there are a few sequences were she's a little off as she fails to depict Jenny's anguish and despair convincingly). Caroline Dhavernas is terrific as Jenny's more sexually aggressive counterpart. James Gilbert is irritating.

Subtle and quiet, yet dark, funny and even twisted, 'The Cry of the Owl' is a well-crafted little film.

I particularly appreciated the observation by hansdewolff regarding Mr. Considine's performance: "On the other side I did have some trouble with Paddy Considine as Robert. Sure, he played the dull, neurotic, passive and slightly cowardly character to perfection. Yet something was amiss...in the rest of the movie it's just not enough in sync with the premise of a charming guy who's sought-after by two beautiful women"

I felt very much the same as I endured the film's first half...not only in his appearance did he evoke a grim, dull figure, his emotional attitude was also bleak and flat...the spectator should care for, if not totally identify, with him (he is the main character)...in fact the whole first half seemed more bleak and grim and ultimately alienating than it need have been...maybe not only at times having him be more appealing (emotionally and physically) would have been to make him somewhat manic-depressive (certain charming highs as well as alienating lows), in a sense the contrast established between the urban and the rural worlds could be echoed (in a different way of course) by contrasts in his characterization and dress...it certainly would have made first half of the narrative less boring and ultimately the film more engaging...

Yea this was a waste of time. Though Paddy Considine did a fairly good job of bringing some life to the film via some decent acting, the overall pace and unbelievable plot aspects keep the film on a downward spiral ending in a climax more of a whimper than a bang.

Of note is the lackadaisical way in which this adaptation took key elements of the novel and pretty much left them in the book. And as mentioned above, the lack of believability in certain scenes ruined the suspension of disbelief of this reviewer. Examples (spoiler free) are of characters acting how no one ever would, police behaving moronically, and the sensation that Paddy's character is so much a whip that he deserves anything he gets.

My advice, don't wast any money on this one.

What a waste of time...acting was pathetic, as if actors were walking through their roles so they could pick up their paychecks. This movie made no sense, was unbelievable from the beginning, middle,while the ending still did not tie the movie together. The characters were left undeveloped so you had no idea what their motivations were. So many unanswered questions, I lost count. How many of you would actually believe this could really happen?! I enjoy Julia Styles' films, but this one ranks far below her talents. Can someone please tell me what the point of this movie is, if there is one? I am very surprised so many enjoyed this film,guess they had plenty of time on their hands to waste. Don't buy the hype, it's not worth it.

Saw this movie on TV the other day and was really impressed with it. I'm becoming a Paddy Considine fan after seeing some of his other movies and I was not let down by his performance in this. He portrays Robert Forster, a quiet and melancholy man sneaking a peek (quite literally) into a world in which he sees some peace, happiness and a lil escape from his otherwise tortured existence. Julia Stiles, which I had seen but was more familiar with her teen movie career was very surprising. Not only because I hadn't seen her in anything for a while but seeing her in something like this was not what I had expected. Her performance was great and had me convinced that she was in fact as mysterious (and possibly unbalanced) as Forster. This film was well directed, well acted and had a pace that had me interested and wondering what was going to happen next. It had the feel of a Hitchcock film and is a top notch thriller in my book. Some may not have the patience for a film like this because it's not riddled with action or CGI but there's a good story in there, and I'll take a movie with a story to tell any day.

I can't even express to you how bad this movie is, but for some stupid reason that is beyond my comprehension, I still felt I had to watch it to the end, and I'm sorry I did. That's two hours of my life wasted...

Did you ever watch a film so bad it made you angry? A film so bad it makes you appreciate good writers and actors and realize how often you take them for granted? I haven't seen a film this bad since I saw The Room over a decade ago, and The Room is fun-bad. This is just bad-bad. The script reads is if written by someone who's had absolutely no human or societal interaction; who's spent their entire life alone in a room with no concept of how human beings act, speak, or what motivates them to act or speak. Each line of dialogue gives me the cringey feeling I get when I reread short stories I wrote as a child: when I had absolutely no idea what adult dialogue actually sounded like but gave it a shot anyhow. I like Paddy Considine a lot, and he does give it his all here, bless him, despite the script definitely not making it easy. Do your blood pressure a favor and avoid this film like the literal plague.

Julia Stiles cannot save this pitiful try at a movie. Nothing good can be said about it. It serves no purpose but to show how sad that one man's life can be. I don't recommend this to anyone.