Hallam Foe (2007)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

David Mackenzie

Writers:

Peter Jinks (novel)
David Mackenzie (screenplay)

Release Date:

30 August 2007 (Germany)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Who is Hallam Foe?

Plot:

Hallam's talent for spying on people reveals his darkest fears-and his most peculiar desires. Driven to expose the true cause of his mother's death, he instead finds himself searching the rooftops of the city for love.

Plot Keywords:

Rooftop | Hotel | Porter | Cell Phone | Voyeurism

Awards:

8 wins & 11 nominations

Cast

Jamie Bell	...	Hallam
Ruth Milne	...	Jenny (as Ruthie Milne)
John Paul Lawler	...	Carl
Claire Forlani	...	Verity
Lucy Holt	...	Lucy
Ciarán Hinds	...	Julius
Malcolm Shields	...	Kilt Man
John Comerford	...	Grumpy Glaswegian
Gerry Cleary	...	Grumpy Glaswegian
Paul Blair	...	Raincoat Man
Neil McKinven	...	Police Officer
Sophia Myles	...	Kate
Jamie Sives	...	Alasdair
Maurice Roëves	...	Raymond (as Maurice Roeves)
Stuart Hepburn	...	Police Inspector

Also Known As:

Mister Foe (USA) (new title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong sexual content and language.

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:18 | Ireland:18 | Netherlands:12 | Germany:12 (re-rating on appeal) | Germany:16 (original rating) | Finland:K-15 | Australia:MA (2007) | Sweden:11 | South Korea:18 | Singapore:R21 | Hungary:16 | USA:R | Argentina:16

Filming Locations:

Balmoral Hotel, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

Company:

Film4

Trivia:

Although much of Hallam Foe is filmed in central Edinburgh, the film avoids showing Edinburgh Castle, which is visible from many of the real life locations.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: Hallam works in the Balmoral Hotel at the East end of Princes Street, yet all shots of the staff entrance to the hotel are clearly the Caledonian Hotel at the West end of the Street.

Soundtrack:

Tender to the Blues

A Self-Conscious British Film that Strives Hard to be a Departure, but Spoils its Initial Promise

Hallam Foe is so self-consciously a left field British Indie, at times it seems close to self-parody. The result is a film that strives hard to be a departure, but spoils its early promise.

The film is about an adolescent, Hallam Foe, in a Scots upper middle-class dysfunctional family (wife recently dead, the husband having replaced her with his young English lover) on a remote Scottish estate. The early scenes are full of an atmosphere of unknown menace and lurid danger, reminiscent of Ian MacEwan's early stories.

Hallam Foe is a very unusual, oedipal adolescent, one of many young screen protagonists that seem to be the spawn of the original fictional teenage weirdo, Holden Caulfield. After a lurid altercation with his father's distinctly dodgy lover, Hallam jumps ship and goes to the big city, where he quickly becomes obsessed with a female stranger who resembles his mother, and struggles with the loss of innocence and tensions of adolescence. But after developing a relationship with the stranger, the film becomes slack and loses interest as the plot becomes tenuous and spins off into improbability.

Still, on the plus side, Hallam Foe is not bad and even quite funny, and has a real sense of place. The cast is good, particularly Jamie Bell and Sophia Myles, both of whom give demanding performances.