If your're going to set a movie in the 14th cenutry, you can't have brighly lit interiors. That's one thing wrong with "The Reckoning," a "Name of the Rose" wannabe without the mystery or research behind it. Notice the advances of medical science, rules of evidence at trial, and burial, exhumation and autopsy practices, all non-existent at the time. Also note the ultra-arty editing and camera angles quite at odds with the sense of period. If by the end you have figured out the backstory, which is key to plot and character, it's of little use to you then.
A rogue priest (Paut Bettany) joins some traveling actors who decide to create a real-life play about a deaf-mute woman convicted of murdering a teenage boy. In rehearsal and performance, they discover that she is innocent and the townsfolk know it. Unfortunately, what we want is a movie, not a concept, which is what we get here. It is possible to respect the one while regretting the other. "The Reckoning" is based on Barry Unsworth's novel "Morality Play," doubtless a better read than its transfer to the screen and this bare-bones DVD.
A pity, too, because the acting by Bettany and Willem DaFoe is focused and nuanced, The concept, with its civic and moral subtexts, is tantalizing in its potential. Would that Tom Stoppard had liked the concept first, or that the late historian of the 14th century, Barabara Tuchman, could have influenced the script, which keeps doubling back on itself in an explanatory effort. "The Reckoning" is a watchable movie when with care it could have been a wonderful one. Brother Cadefael is never around when you really need him.
An intriguing Medieval 'mystery'
The Reckoning is an engaging but not always entirely successful medieval murder/conspiracy thriller that probably aimed to tap into the 'Name of the Rose' market only to be shelved for so long you could have mistaken it for a Miramax movie. I first saw the film in 2001 more than two years before its blink-and-you'll-miss-it theatrical release, and in the interim it went through some tweaking and rescoring, although this is mainly for the better - the ending seems a little tighter (although the fate of the killer still fails to convince) and Vincent Cassell's Norman lord is introduced much earlier into the proceedings, which helps considerably (in the previous cut he was a remote, faceless presence for most of the movie), although Gina McKee's role seems less substantial than I remember.
There are still problems in the film, including a couple of weak performances (the usually reliable Ewan Bremner and a flat and disinterested Matthew McFadyen in particular), and the impressive set still looks more like the Spanish mountains than the Yorkshire Dales, but there's still much to admire in this tale of a priest on the run who falls in with a group of travelling actors only to find a chance for redemption when, while performing a play about a child murder in a village, he discovers that the deaf and dumb healer sentenced to hang for the crime is clearly innocent. Paul Bettany is fine in the lead, although Willem Dafoe inadvisedly succombs to the siren call of attempting a Yorkshire accent and ending up with something very odd indeed (previous victims include Donald Sutherland in 'Revolution'), and you can even spot 'Shaun of the Dead's Simon Pegg in a brief bit as a gaoler. Despite being a little too fond of overhead shots here, Paul McGuigan's an interesting director with talent to burn who has yet to make an entirely successful film, but this is still well worth a look.
Ridiculous
Hey folks, look! It's Scooby Doo meets CSI in the FOURTEENTH century! A traveling band of actors decides to investigate a murder??? Its the dark ages, but a one-man exhumation (in frozen ground, no less!) is performed along with a rudimentary autopsy and the details of rigor mortis are common knowledge! wow, what history books did these guys read? The production design and costumes were well done - outside of that, give me a break. No attempt was made to make the dialogue sound even remotely accurate for the times, and the pacing was tediously slow. Not a good flick overall.
The United States of Leland isn't a whodunit. The opening scenes of Matthew Ryan Hoge's unusual murder mystery make it clear that Leland P. Fitzgerald (The Believer's Ryan Gosling) is the killer. But why did he kill? Now that the deed is done, Leland is staying in a detention center. Everybody, but especially new teacher Pearl Madison (Don Cheadle), wants to know why he killed the mentally challenged brother of girlfriend Becky (Jena Malone). After all, Leland seemed to genuinely like the kid. Leland is just as confused (and can't remember committing the act), but he reveals more and more clues as he gradually opens up to Pearl. His estranged novelist father Albert (Kevin Spacey), meanwhile, just wants to spin another bestseller out of his son's story. Writer-director Hoge... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Don Cheadle - Ryan Gosling - Kevin Spacey Director(s): Matthew Ryan Hoge DVD Release Date: Released the 07 September 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Claude Lelouch may never be the most profound director in the world, but he sure knows how to whip up a catchy distraction. And Now Ladies & Gentlemen finds Lelouch in a skippy, unpredictable mode. Jeremy Irons, who seems to be enjoying himself enormously, is a thief who sets out on a sailing voyage, only to fetch up in Morocco after he blacks out at the helm. There he meets sultry singer Patricia Kaas (her first acting role); it turns out they both might have brain tumors. Did someone say this is a romantic comedy? It is, complete with musical numbers (Kaas glides through a cozy cross-section of French pop music, including the theme from A Man and a Woman, Lelouch's '60s smash). The movie's all over the place, and it spins its wheels for the final half-hour, but there are... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Jeremy Irons - Patricia Kaas - Thierry Lhermitte Director(s): Claude Lelouch DVD Release Date: Released the 13 January 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Mike Hodges and Clive Owen, director and star of the stylish 1998 crime drama Croupier, team again in this moody, almost contemplative thriller about a former gangster, Will Graham (Owen), who returns to London after a lengthy self-exile. In a tragic coincidence, Will's brother, Davey (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), has just committed suicide following a rape by a wealthy car dealer (Malcolm McDowell). Convinced there is more to Davey's death than meets the eye, Will--arguing he is nothing like his old, violent, urban self--slowly evolves again into a formidable criminal. Hodges and screenwriter Trevor Preston emphasize tone and spiritual inference over precise character motivation. Not everything that can be known about Will (especially his rocky psychological state and history with a... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Clive Owen - Jonathan Rhys-Meyers - Malcolm McDowell Director(s): Mike Hodges DVD Release Date: Released the 16 November 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Following their super-quirky films Twin Falls Idaho and Jackpot, the Polish brothers take a leap of faith with their third picture, Northfork. And it pays off handsomely. Somewhere in the desolate Midwest, the town of Northfork is about to be drowned in the waters held back by a new dam. It's up to a group of men (in identical black suits and fedoras) to clear out the last stubborn landowners. Meanwhile, a deathly ill boy bargains with a delegation of heaven-sent searchers--at least that's what they seem to be. Is this Fargo meets Touched by an Angel? That's the peculiar feel of this otherwise unclassifiable movie, which veers from academic artiness to wacky blackout humor. Who can explain the restaurant where diners must guess the lone menu item? And... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Nick Nolte - Duel Farnes - Anthony Edwards Director(s): Michael Polish DVD Release Date: Released the 30 December 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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A huge hit in France, Love Me if You Dare takes the traditional l'amour fou scenario and runs it through a pinball machine. From childhood, Julien and Sophie engage in an obsessive battle of one-upmanship: if one of them hands a brightly colored candy tin to the other and makes a dare, the recipient is bound to honor it, no matter how destructive or dangerous the dare might be. When this wacky habit enters adulthood and begins wrecking their lives, they ought to change... but that's not how l'amour fou works. Part Amelie-style comedy, part dark fable, this movie has quirkiness to burn, if not always as much charm as it thinks it has. Leads Guillaume Canet and Marion Cotillard are ardent, although somewhat out-acted by their juvenile counterparts in the film's early section.... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Guillaume Canet - Marion Cotillard - Thibault Verhaeghe - Joséphine Lebas-Joly Director(s): Yann Samuell DVD Release Date: Released the 19 October 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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