masked film critic

The attention-grabbing beginning of this movie finds two scam artists, having accidentally killed a victim, stumbling on the possibility of blackmailing a football star, and setting in motion a quirky road movie with hints of black humour.

I have to say, this sketchy synopsis recalls the type of plotline the Coen brothers might use. This is slightly misleading - the film is darker, less gimmicky and ultimately less fun than standard Coen brothers fare - but nonetheless the film does share several of the brothers' failings - noticeably an inability to create a consistent tone or convincing psychologies for the lead characters. We know the most important character suffered severe trauma as a child, yet we learn little about her other than that, and her boyfriend seems an even bigger mystery.

Also, to illustrate the problems the film has with tone, the film has noirish themes, but has incongruously bright sunny photography. It also contains one brilliantly funny sequence, in which a cop finds he knows his partner less well than he thought, but frankly this scene looks like it comes from another movie.

However, the film is always watchable. It does look attractive, even if its main stylistic tic - continual jump cuts, presumably in homage to Godard - does jar after a while. Moreover, a brash, confident central performance from Frances O'Connor definitely holds the attention, and I did feel that I cared for her basically hard-to-like character.

Although the film is only a partial success, it still looks like the type of film that could develop a cult following.

"Out of Sight" is one of those films that goes down as easily as a Czech beer on a hot day. In fact, it is so assured, so easy to watch that it is easy to forget how meticulously it is constructed and how every detail is spot-on. The cinematography is cool, detached and luxurious. The script is subtle in its twists, and negotiates some tricky flashbacks without losing the narrative flow. There's a excellent score, laid back but funky. Finally, of course, there are the performances. Clooney and Lopez have both been in some terrible films, but here both generate a remarkable chemistry, despite only having a few scenes together. Lopez, indeed, is a revelation - intelligence, smouldering sensuality, and an effortless charm entirely in keeping with the film's aesthetic. Of course, this effect will be ruined the next time I see one of her tacky music videos on MTV. However, it is a mark of the film's quality that smaller roles are no less accomplished - note the estimable Catherine Keener, who only has two scenes to make an impact, but adds a deliciously quirky presence. Also, Steve Zahn, as the pothead loser, is funny throughout - note how his look is based on Dennis Hopper in "Easy Rider". As I say, the details are everything.

That European cinema did things differently in the 1960s is not in doubt, as even directors from little-renowned cinematic cultures such as Yugoslavia delighted in new-found freedom. On one hand, "Switchboard Operator" is a simple tale of love, betrayal and tragedy in Belgrade, and as such captures some touching details about trapped lives in a totalitarian society. However, director Dusan Makavejev, clearly under the influence of Godard, adopts an offhand approach to his narrative, and introduces extraneous material at tangents to the main story. Most of this stuff is fascinating, particularly when he uses archive footage of Yugoslav history. Less successful are the interjections of two tedious academics, a sexologist and a criminologist, whose stern pronouncements jar against the film's capricious tone. Nonetheless, this is invigorating film-making which reaches into some strange regions. Despite an economical running time of 69 minutes, the film even finds time for a brief history of how the grey rat infested Europe!

"Cube" is certainly a unique movie. With only one set to play with, the movie sustains the interest throughout. Basically, it's high concept stuff. Six manifestly incompatible characters are trapped inside a massive cube full of interconnected rooms, some of which contain deadly traps. All the characters have to do to escape is avoid the traps, work out the structure of the cube and try to get on with each other. Unfortunately, it's the latter that proves hardest, as the movie decides to illustrate Sartre's dictum that hell is other people. The movie has several scenes of almost unbearable tension - I was wincing and hiding my face when the characters faced a room which they could only pass through if they remained silent. There are also a couple of startling, gory scenes early on. The film's twists are always well thought out, and the scenes containing the group slugging it out with their emotional problems are devastating. The problem, however, is that some of the characters seem a little pat - they become stereotypes, and the acting is rarely good enough to hide the stilted characterization. That said, if you like mathematical puzzles, or you just like a movie that has ideas and is prepared to follow them through, you should check this one out. However, the film's bleak messages about human nature may prove a little hard to stomach.

"Place Vendome" makes a few strange decisions early on. You would expect a thriller set in the Paris jewel industry to be glamorous and sexy, but Nicole Garcia has other ideas. Instead, she presents the industry as corrupt, jaded and full of downbeat, sleazy people. Deals take place behind closed doors, in cheap hotel rooms, and dimly-lit office suites. Garcia does everything to make this atmosphere suffocating - there are few outdoors scenes initially. When the action shifts briefly to London, there are no establishing shots. The only clue that we're no longer in Paris is that the dialogue switches to English.

This, no doubt, is an attempt to add realism to the milieu. It succeeds, but at the cost of draining the film of interest. Little narrative momentum is created, and the low-key lighting, presumably aimed at creating a noir atmosphere, ends up murky instead.

The main interest lies, predictably enough, with Catherine Deneuve, in yet another mid-life crisis role. Of course, she holds the attention like the old pro she is, but this is itself a problem. We're introduced to various mysterious characters when Deneuve is off-screen, but they seem lifeless and uninteresting by comparison.

And yet, the final half-hour actually works. Much is explained about the characters' motivations in a haunting flashback scene, set in an unforgiving wintry landscape. Following on from that the film finally develops some tension. However, this seems to be too little, too late. This is a wasted opportunity.

All those who believe Edward Wood to be the worst film director of all time really ought to consider the career of Adrian Lyne after seeing this. As a psychological drama, it is dreadfully limp - I felt I knew nothing about the characters after seeing it. The high concept is all - it could have been an interesting idea, but in Lyne's hands, any moral issues are ultimately brushed aside in a brutally unconvincing attempt at a weepie. Visually, it's all television commercial stuff - empty gloss signifying nothing. At the end, I felt cheated, manipulated and dirty for sitting through this cheap and nasty rubbish.

Franju's evocation of a lost innocent era of French silent cinema is a real gem, and a much neglected film. The film creates an air of gentle menace from the opening scenes featuring a bird-masked magician at a masked ball. We soon learn that he is, in fact, Judex, the legendary crime-fighter. He soon becomes engaged in a battle with a cat-suited female criminal. The plot itself is one-dimensional comic-strip stuff, as the above suggests, but what constantly impresses is the poetic set-pieces Franju sets up, particularly a burglary at a country house swathed in mists. The show is continually stolen by Francine Berge, as the criminal - she seems a not-too-distant relation of Diana Rigg in television's "The Avengers", at least in dress sense - and this highlights a slight problem. The hero, played by American magician Channing Pollock, is bland by comparison, as is Edith Scob's heroine-in-distress. It seems that the bad girls get all the fun! Overall, this is the type of film that doesn't get made any more, yet doesn't seem dated. Franju's more famous "Les Yeux Sans Visage" is, in terms of mood, very similar, as is Cocteau's breathtaking fairy tale, "La Belle Et La Bete". The sixties British horror, "The Haunting", also pulls the same trick of showing little by achieving everything through mood alone. Do try to see all of these if you get the chance.