Reviews

I just watched the first four in the series of "BMW Films", and this is by far the best. I was more familiar with the other three directors (the great Ang Lee, the very good Guy Ritchie, and the stunningly adequate John Frankenheimer), but after seeing "The Follow" (and reading someone compare Kar-Wai's "In the Mood for Love" with Soderbergh's "The Limey") I feel a strong need to search out more of this director's work.

"The Follow" avoids the "five minutes worth of car chase" formula employed by the other BMW films, instead reaching for a more haunting, psychological examination of obsession and the loss of love. Clive Owens is given more to work with here than in any of the other films, and he comes through like a champ, delivering a lyrical, understated narration that the film would fall apart without. Mickey Rourke is solid, but his role goes by so fast that he doesn't get a chance to do much. Forest Whitaker is better, though for some reason uncredited. If you get a chance to watch this movie, by all means do it. Among the top five short films I've seen. Now I need to go see if I can find a copy of "Chungking Express" to rent.

Far from a great movie, but at least it's better than "The Ninth Gate" and "End of Days" (the two movies it reminded me most of). Rachel Leigh Cook is stunningly beautiful, and gives a performance that makes some poor writing almost work. Christopher McDonald is surprisingly good even though (perhaps because) he is not playing the comedic jerk character he's played in almost everything else he's been in. Maximillian Schell should have just stayed home; he doesn't bring anything new or even interesting to the film. All in all, it's worth renting (or buying for three dollars, as I was lucky enough to do), even though the ending is one of the most cliched, predictable bits of cinema I've seen in a long time. The menacing glare straight into the camera at the last shot just doesn't seem as clever as it used to be. For that matter, I'm not convinced it ever was clever.