Breaking and Entering Review
by Clint Morris
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‘Arresting’ is usually – if someone’ s done his or her job well enough – a word associated with Breaking and Entering;
and there’s no exception here. But whereas, Anthony ‘Cold Mountain’
Minghella’s latest film should cuff you for the duration, stimulating
you so much that nobody will want to leave his or her seat for that one
phone call, it merely keeps you occupied – like being given a free
donut from a copper would.
The problem with Breaking and Entering
is that it’s too analogous – you’d be hard pressed to pick it out of a
line-up with films of a similar nature because it fears to tread new
territory.
The film stars Minghella-favourite Jude Law (Cold Mountian, The Talented Mr Ripley) as Will, the part owner of an architect firm in seedy King’s Cross, whose just had all their computers stolen.
Will,
fed up after another break-in, chases one of the young gang members,
Miro (Rafi Gavron), back to the apartment he shares with his mother
Amira (Juliette Binoche), a Bosnian refugee. But instead of informing
the mother about her son’s actions, Will – who lives with his beautiful
girlfriend Liv (Robin Wright Penn) who spends most of her time worrying
about her troubled 13-year-old daughter Bea (Poppy Roger) – decides to
get to know Amira (hiring her to be his ‘tailor’), and ultimately,
begins a very secret affair with her.
In many respects, Breaking
is a film that’s only managed to rise above its ‘telemovie-esque
script’ by attaching a name (in this case, Jude Law) to the film. Sure,
it’s better to have Law in the film than not to have Law in the film,
but he is too good for the material. There must’ve been some monetary
value for him here, that’s for sure. At the same time, the film also
sets-up some interesting support characters (like Vera Farmiga’s hooker
character, and Ray Winstone’s copper) but they’re written out of the
picture early on, as if Minghella decided not to, at the last minute,
give their characters the planned arc he had in mind for them.
On
the other hand, it is an entertaining film – and never gets dull. The
storyline keeps you interested – even if it doesn’t feel satisfactory
resolved by the end – and the performances are especially good.
This 62b’s worth looking into – but don’t bother about calling for back up.
3 out
of 5 Breaking and Entering
Australian
release: 25th January,
2007
Cast: Jude Law, Vera Farmiga, Juliette Binoche, Martin Freeman, Ray Winstone
Director: Gabriele Muccino
Website: Click
here.
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