Lurkers

In the absence of compelling new releases, we continue to burn through the queue to address the backlog.

MISTER FOE (HALLAM FOE) (2008) (B+) - Jamie Bell ("Billy Elliot," "Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool") plays Hallam, an 18-year-old Scot who is obsessed with spying on people. This gets him in trouble with many neighbors, as well as with his MILFy evil step-mom, who banishes him from his father's country estate, exiling him to the big city of Edinburgh. There he spots Kate, who has an uncanny resemblance to his dead beloved mother.

Young Hallam scores a porter's job at the hotel where Kate (Sophia Myles) oversees the staff. The hotel conveniently has a clock tower that is within spying distance of Kate's apartment. Hallam works through his mommy issues and exploits his street smarts to survive in his new world. His creepiness is never dismissed casually, but neither is it meant to convey horror or suspense. He's just a bit of a freak.

David Mackenzie ("Perfect Sense," "Hell or High Water," "Starred Up") co-wrote and directed this adaptation, somewhat of a follow-up to his gloomy and disturbing character study "Young Adam." The cast is strong, including Ciaran Hinds as the father and Claire Forlani as the step-mother Verity.

ORPHEUS (1950) (B) - This classic from Jean Cocteau holds up as an exemplar of avant-garde cinema. It follows the familiar Greek myth of Orpheus, here a famed poet (played by Jean Marais) who is lured to the underworld to retrieve his dead wife. Cocteau was quite the thinker, and he gives the cast plenty of absurdist philosophy to chew on here.

Orpheus is lured by the Princess (Maria Casares) into the netherworld that is accessed through mirrors (the best to reflect on one's true self). Cocteau uses various tricks -- running film backward, turning mirrors into pools of water -- that are still rather impressive 70 years on. Inscrutable messages pour out of car radios. An undercurrent of same-sex attraction lightly pulses throughout. Fantasy can be a challenge, but Cocteau manages to pull this off without getting ridiculous.

BONUS TRACKS
"Mister Foe" boasts an engaging soundtrack from under-the-radar bands, sort of an Aughties Channel update of "Garden State." My favorite was "They Shoot Horses Don't They" by Quickspace from their excellent album "The Death of Quickspace":



The Lennonesque "Here on My Own" by U.N.P.O.C (Tom Bauchop):



Sons and Daughters with "Broken Bones":



The Spanish-language ringer, Juana Molina with "Salvese Quien Pueda":



From London, toytronica purveyors Psapp with "Eating Spiders":



More generic electronica, Peter Mergerner's "A Little Bit of Something":



Finally, the title track over the closing credits, Franz Ferdinand with "Hallam Foe Dandelion Blow":