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The Jacket

Spyder Todd 2008

17:23 / 23.01.06

Saw this the other night. For a film with such a crappy title, I found it to be considerably better than I thought it would be. Part of that is the trailer didn’t make it look nearly as interesting as it was. The tagline doesn’t help either (“Terror has a new name”. Oy.), I kinda get the feeling that the marketing behind this film was either a.) nonexistent or b.)trying to fail. But I digress.

The acting was thoroughly involving. The story-while never really covering new ground for me at least- certainly wasn’t mainstream, which may have something to do with the less than spectacular success of the film. It comes full circle, which is good I think, and I genuinely kind of wanted it to be longer. I’m not sure if that’s good or not.

Maybe I’m just a sucker for temporal displacement and crazy people. Who knows. Anyone else see this? Thoughts?

Krug

09:53 / 24.01.06

I saw the trailer/poster and both just look very similar to Jacob's Ladder. Can you comment on similarities?

PatrickMM

17:43 / 25.01.06

There's definite Jacob's Ladder similarities, both in terms of narrative and visual style. If you liked Jacob's Ladder, you'll probably enjoy this film. In terms of the movie itself, there's some interesting ideas, but it never quite came together on the whole. It's a film that sets up a concept that can never be resolved in any completely satisfying way.

Spyder Todd 2008

18:15 / 25.01.06

I haven't actually seen Jacob's Ladder, but I've heard they have a lot in common. War veterans, PTSD (sort of), fluid reality and the like. What I've heard of Jacob's Ladder, though (and if I'm wrong, feel free to correct me), has the main character loosing his sanity and such. This movie was more... I don't know. I don't think Adrien Brody's character was ever actually insane, just confused and a victim of circumstance. The plot isn't really about insanity, more like the mental institution is the trigger for the movie's plot.
Jacob's Ladder meets Somewhere in Time, maybe?

The trailer is very, VERY misleading. As in, I don't think "time travel" went through my head at all when watching it- "ghost story" was more what I thought viewing that.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

18:31 / 25.01.06

I really enjoyed it, though I'd have preferred it to have been more ambiguous about what was actually happening (you know how the Donnie Darko director's cut just gives Way Too Much Information- it's not quite that bad in this respect, but it heads a little in that direction)- basically, I think I wanted another Jacob's Ladder for the Gulf War era. It isn't that, but it works very well on its own terms.

I'd say that while it isn't a classic, it's at the very least very good.

Put it this way, I saw it in a very expensive cinema, and didn't begrudge the money. (Well, I only paid half price, but it was still fairly hefty...)

Our Lady Has Left the Building

15:21 / 17.04.06

Well, that's it, it brings nothing new to the table, and about thirty minutes in you'll know where the story is going yet somehow you'll not begrudge it the time it takes to watch it. Or maybe that's me because I didn't have to pay to see it.

e-n

10:00 / 19.04.06

I saw this in Dublin last year as the mystery film at the film festival. I felt the film was watchable but a bit of a let down, however, the director, John Maybury, came in afterwards and talked astonishingly about how this wasn't really a project he was aall that interested in and how he'd essentially just done it for the money. it was great to have a director avoid the whole "on set we were one big happy family" spiel and actually tell the audience that he wasn't happy when Kiera Knightly was selected for the role but it wasn't his movie so what are you going to do, along with other little stories. I think hew was just trying desperately to get a movie made (his previous one was in 1998) and get his name back in the running for other jobs but to be honest he didn't seem all that bothered.
Maybe that came across a little bit in the result.

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