Mark Kermode reviews The Pale Blue Eye - Kermode and Mayo's Take

pale blueway which is a Gothic inflected murder  mystery thriller from writer Scott Cooper whose   impressive CV includes Crazy Heart Out of  the Furnace which I like very much hostiles   which is one of the very few films to feature a  yabahar on the soundtrack and what a yay Bahar is   an instrument of which there was only one at the  time that they made hostiles it literally looks   like a like a like a bed turned into a strange  cacophonous metal instrument and it makes a sound   like a synthesizer it's really weird I'm not  making this up so the film is adapted from a   novel by Louis Bayer which I confess I haven't  read set in 1830 Christian Bale um is Augustus   Landau who is called in to investigate an apparent  suicide at the U.S military academy at West Point   whilst he is there he meets the young Edgar Allan  Poe played by Harry melling known to audiences as   Dudley dursley and apparently grandson  of Patrick trouton blimey blimey blimey   um who does a great job also of reminding  us just how much Edgar Allan Poe looks like   Dario Argento because I don't know what Daria  agenda looks like he looks like Harry melling   as Edgar Allan Poe is what he looks like so  Poe is great with puzzles and Mysteries and   um there is a there is a hanged man um uh you know  this is suicide was a hanging but it becomes very   evident early on you know it wasn't hanging it  looks like it was something suspicious that it   was a piece of paper clutched in his in his hand  and Lander and Poe pieced together the evidence   and conclude that firstly it wasn't suicide  secondly there is something of the night about   this case Toby Jones is uh Dr Daniel Markey and  Jillian Anderson is his very very uh difficult   wife Julia here's a clip please let me introduce  you to my wife Julia I've heard so much about you about you aren't you the guy's death I am well we were just discussing  the matter indeed my husband informs me that   despite his own heroic efforts the body of Mr Fry  has been judged too far along for public display   hmm his poor parents no not danger  well his whole matter has has shaken us   reassured I won't rest until we've apprehended  him Jillian Anderson is enjoying the house and   looking Insanity like Margaret Thatcher and  what you don't which of course she played   in yes well you don't get from that clip is Toby  well there's Toby who's just you know a presence   but it is fantastically cold to this movie and  it is I mean in another context you think that   was like a Christmas card scene because there's  snow everywhere and Christian's got snow in his   beard and everything unless no one have on it and  there's snow on Toby's head but Jillian Anderson   clearly relishing the children and actually as  the as the film goes on her character becomes   more in inverted commas difficult leading to a  spectacular dinner table scene redefining the   concept of difficult and being difficult yeah  so both the film and the novel take their title   inspiration from The Telltale Heart so this is  both the whodunit and a kind of origins of Edgar   Allan Poe and you know where all this stuff  comes from it does have an atmosphere to it I   think that meling is terrific as part I think  he's really really good he is one of a number   of actors like Christian Bale Toby Jones Simon  McBurney Tim spall all putting U.S actors out of   jobs totally whilst playing Americans apparently  more convincingly than Americans could do it which   is kind of interesting I mean I think Scott Cooper  is very good at atmosphere and the the first thing   you said about him you know he said it's very cold  it has it has a chilling oh yes feel to it and of   course it is a chilling tale that's why I said it  has something of the night about it and it is it   is on one level a tale in a very Edgar Allan  Poe way of we're all doomed we're all doomed   um and I mean it's a it's it's a little language  and the fine the what what I think would have   to be described as the fourth Act is like what  really yeah but I did enjoy it um it's in it's   in Cinema's limited Cinema release and then it's  on Netflix from January the 6th and it it what   it has is it has and people were talking about um  Avatar being immersive which I didn't find it to   be immersive at all but I did find myself immersed  in the world of the pale blue art and shivering   yes in as much as I wanted to wear a coat and  a scarf and a hat and some gloves and have a   warm Toddy and have a fire going at the same time  because it's very very cold but I kind of like you   liked it too right I thought it was terrific  and just when you go through that cast list   it's it's done I think it's amazing and they all  put in very fine performances and Christian I   always find Christian Bell very compelling to  watch but opposite him Harry melling matches   him and so well you know well done to him he's I  think Harry maybe one day we'll get to speak to   him who knows who knows who knows but uh Harry  if you're listening so all of those actors you   know very well and have seen in countless films  Harry melling is the one that you haven't seen   in I mean obviously there's Harry Potter but  let's put that to us so I didn't recognize him   but you watch it and think we're going to see a  lot of you very good yes and you can do accents   I found that was interesting thing about the  accents because obviously this is kind of much   earlier America so the accents kind of matter  but they don't really because at that time all   the accents were in fusion and of course Jillian  Anderson's accent is of no fixed postal code is   it because it's because she she has she is  filled with many voices yes no I mean it's   just I have heard her speak naturally obviously  I thought you were implying she was demonic no   no no no but she's because she's you know she  has it because of of of the history of her life   she in her relaxing voice can flit back and forth  across the Atlantic very easily it might and it   might be that they all had a terrible time  making this film but you get the impression   that they were all enjoying each each other's  company yes a lot yes because there's some very   fine actorage in there uh pale blue eye is the  movie that's a cinema release that's not a kind   of Cinema and then Netflix from the sixth well  now that was a great video I thought we couldn't   take my eyes off it and neither could they do you  think they know that they can keep up to date with   all things kermuda Mayers take by checking out  our social channels well they do now yes they do

Channel: Kermode and Mayo's Take

Views: 135,880

Keywords: Mark Kermode, Simon Mayo, Kermode and Mayo's Take, Film Review, TV Review

Id: 8AiUYuPrkZ8

Length: 6min 44sec (404 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 23 2022