Sleuth
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Sleuth
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Writers: Harold Pinter (screenplay), Anthony Shaffer (play)
Stars: Michael Caine, Jude Law and Harold Pinter
Milo: "I'm beginning to respond to your charm."
Writers: Harold Pinter (screenplay), Anthony Shaffer (play)
Stars: Michael Caine, Jude Law and Harold Pinter
Milo: "I'm beginning to respond to your charm."
Voyering on the scripted mirror of self-importance lies the workshop of character study that is Sleuth. I wanted to stay away from this movie and Kenneth Branagh in particular but I watched it, leaving my ego on the astray. Licking cigarette butts and tasting unhealthy mints, one hour and twenty-five minutes later (one hour less than the original) my eyes were still wide open. I suppose that's my way of giving a compliment to the remake of Mankiewiz's 1972 movie.
Andrew Wyke's (Michael Caine) house is a technological marvel, cold and empty, it reflects a stage where his narcissism dwells. Through surveillance cameras. comes Milo. ringing the bell. Five minutes in and Helen of Troy started the fire. The gloves are off and the verbal spar initiates. We're left to watch the satire unfold.
Not only a game of honor but also one of the preservation of manhood. As it is delving deeper into narcissism, it lights up the unknowable homoerotic tendencies and slaps them around with a rainbow full of loneliness.
The directional motivation behind and underneath surely is symbolism. It's a theme of the ages and Branagh understands the need to surface the meaning of involving the characters in direction and acting between them, as they move on with their mentally dangerous game. Andrew pushes Milo's acting buttons but Branagh through his pretentious trickery never does.
The motif is sensationalism and the film has all the weapons, the problem is that most of the time they shoot blanks. Jude Law once again proves he's not a porcelain dummy actor and Michael Caine in Laurence Olivier's shoes, brings something different to the character, perpetuating as a basis, his desperate loneliness.
The ultimate winner is the viewer but this battle has been lost many times before.
