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Kevin Lynch
Reviews
Out of Bounds (2003)
Atmospheric
This film is well acted, especially by it's two attractive leads, Sophie Ward and Sophia Miles. Two better known actors, at least to me, are in support roles - Celia Imrie and Michael Elphick.
The action takes place in a remote location (a girl's boarding school during the holidays) and has an Agatha Christie's 'Ten Little Indians' / 'And Then There Were None' atmosphere to it. The twists come thick and fast and I believe too often. The film seems to slip in and out of being a supernatural thriller and in the end I am unsure whether it was supposed to be or not. Perhaps a second viewing would tie up a few loose ends.
I have scored this movie 5/10 but it deserves higher for it's acting.
Spoilers: The character Michael Elphick played was introduced as such an unimportant, yet filler role, that a British audience would expect he would have an impact on proceedings later on. He did, but in a story of so many twists, it impact was diluted.
The House on Telegraph Hill (1951)
Worried about the past and worried about the future
A woman (Valentina Cortesa) assumes the identity of her more affluent friend who died at the Belsen camp in Germany. However the seemingly ideal life she is about to enter soon beings to have a sinister feel. Is she the only fraud? Reasonable performances from all the leads keeps the storyline, which never quite reaches its potential, interesting. The film also lead to the marriage of Valentina Cortesa to her co-star Richard Basehart - a chemistry not readily apparent in the film!