Presumably this was supposed to be Tykwer’s breakthrough into the mainstream, filmed in English and with international stars in Cate Blanchett and Giovanni Ribisi. It has a screenplay written by Polish director Krystof Kieslowski shortly before he died, although it shares a lot of the things that made Tykwer famous – dream sequences, characters apparently driven by fate, and an inability (or lack of desire) to tell the story in a linear way.

The story, as far as I can tell, is about an English teacher played by Blanchett who becomes a terrorist on the run, and who is aided by Ribisi’s almost mute cop. As before, the look of the movie is striking – all Tykwer’s movies have been shot by Frank Griebe, who may well turn out to be the real genius here – but the pace is so slow as to expose the logical flaws and give you time to wonder at the crazy haircuts worn by the stars. I suspect I’m going to have to watch this again, as I found it to be occasionally brilliant but mostly irritating, and I suspect I’d think it was pretentious art-house twaddle if I was Joe Bob Briggs.

Mild Peril Rating:

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Tags: Euro