Do we all remember “Franklyn,” the dystopian sci-fi thriller starring Eva Green, Ryan Phillippe, Sam Riley and directed by Gerald McMorrow?
Last year, many film sites — including us — wondered when the hell this U.K. film (which was already released there earlier this year) would ever get released in the U.S.
Well, it’s out alright. Quietly dumped onto DVD this week (comes out tomorrow November 17), with almost zero promotion (the only reason we knew is cause it was out early at our local video store).
Perhaps it was confused as some reports suggested it was? We went to our U.K. writer Olly Lyttelton, who saw it earlier this year, was greatly anticipating it, but then was sorely let down.
“The British film industry can be a terribly frustrating place. So when an ambitious-looking film from a young director such as Gerald McMorrow’s ‘Franklyn’ turns up, it comes with heavy expectations,” he wrote in an early review we never had a chance to run until now.
Here’s the rest of his review:
An uptight church warden (the ever-excellent Bernard Hill) arrives in contemporary London, searching for his missing son. A performance artist (Eva Green) films her suicide attempts for a final project. A young man (Sam Riley) left at the altar pines for his childhood sweetheart. And, cut into this, a masked vigilante (Ryan Phillippe) in a futuristic city ruled by religion, searches for The Individual, a mysterious figure who may be involved in the disappearance of children. And as you might imagine, these stories become entwined as time goes on.
It’s Phillippe’s section of the film that’s drawn the most attention — a brilliantly designed parallel world nodding heavily to Alan Moore, “Blade Runner,” Terry Gilliam and Jeunet/Caro. While derivative, it’s beautifully shot, and looks like nothing else in recent British cinema, particularly considering the film was shot for a paltry £6 million — it looks like ten times that.
The trouble is, McMorrow never commits as to what kind of film he wants to make. One scene is comic-book action, the next a romantic fable, but it never coheres. The tone flirts with darkness — mental illness, bereavement and child abuse — but pulls its punches, and they don’t develop beyond plot devices – would-be twists that you see coming a mile off. When someone like, say, Paul Thomas Anderson uses these elements, it’s as part of the humanist tapestry that he’s weaving; here, it feels like an attempt to sit at the grown ups’ table. It’s partly because the characters are so thin — while universally well-acted, they never develop beyond a one-word description – “lovelorn,” “suicidal,” “crazy.” Riley, in particular, is given little to do other than stand around looking serious in a nice selection of winter coats.
There’s stuff to like in “Franklyn” — it’s an undeniably handsome film, and Joby Talbot’s (“The League of Gentlemen”, “Son Of Rambow”) score is tremendous — the best work yet from the ex-Divine Comedy member. But ultimately, it feels like too much attention went on the production design, and not enough on the script…
A bit of a shame, but we had our suspicions it would turn out like this. One for the Netflix queue one of these days we guess. Here’s the original trailer.