BREAKING AND ENTERING
**1/2
R for sexuality and language.
2 hrs.
written by: Anthony Minghella
produced by: Timothy Bricknell, Anthony Minghella, & Sydney Pollack
directed by: Anthony Minghella
With his latest release, writer & director Anthony Minghella has brought to the screen his first original screenplay in 15 years Here's a film that's good to view on a stormy winter or spring weekend afternoon. It's a quiet, cold and somber film about people who are stuck in the lives they inhabit and the violations they endure to keep their lives intact. That tone isn't foreign for Minghella who also directed two Oscar-winners, "The English Patient" and "Cold Mountain." Both if those films, were epic in scope yet had the same tone in characterization of loneliness, longing, and regret that this film does. It would appear that "Breaking and Entering" is a return to that style; it's somber and well acted and full of interesting possibilities but overall....uncompelling.
Will Francis (Jude Law) is a young landscape architect living a cold, routine-based life with his Swedish girlfriend, Liv (Robin Wright Penn) and her behaviorally challenged, possibly autistic, daughter Bea (Popy Rogers) in London. His state-of-the-art office in the Kings Cross area has recently been burglarized. After their business, Green Effect, is robbed a second time, Will and his business partner Sandy (Martin Freeman, "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy") perform a late-night stakeout of the place and wind up accomplishing a coupla things. First, they meet a Russian hooker (Vera Farmiga, "The Departed") who patrols the neighborhood nightly as she "breaks and enters" their car as they sit in it. Second, Will finds catches a Bosnian teen named traceur Miro (Rafi Gavron, HBO's "Rome") attempting to break in. Will attempts to follow him which leads him to the mysterious Amira (Juliette Binoche), a seamstress with whom he becomes emotionally entangled, causing him to re-evaluate his life. Conflict arises when the police close in on the burglars, and Will must make a crucial choice which will affect the lives of everyone around him.
Minghella's story brings all of these characters together in various ways. Some of which meander down a rather unbelievable outcome and some seem incredible (as in, not credible) as in the film's conclusion, which stretches the truth and the law. There comes a point where I do not believe these characters would do these such things. I'm starting to almost grow tired of multiple characters interconnecting somehow. I already know that people crash into each other and I also know that there's often breaking and entering going on in people's lives whether they realize it or not. They don't have to cross paths in order for their lives or the overall story to resonate with me. There's a point in these kinds of stories where you are really interested to find out what these characters are all about. There is also a point where I just don't care that much.
Unfortunately, that last point lasts for most of the film. Law's tidy politeness, Wright Penn's sadness, and Binoche's vulnerability come through clearly....they are all talented actors....yet the whole thing is so dour and emotionally one-note, that it's difficult to really like. Instead of liking the film, I guess I moreso appreciated it. It took me to Kings Cross, a part of London I don't recall seeing on film before. It was good to see Ray Winstone as a decent guy for a change. He plays a detective investigating the burglaries and in one scene he has a talk Miro in a park. He makes it obvious that he knows Miro is one of the thieves and instead of busting him he tried to help the teen realize that he needs to make better choices with his life. It's a nice change from the rough gangster type characters he usually plays in movies like "The Departed", "The Proposition" and "Sexy Beast." He also played a detestable character in Minghella's "Cold Mountain."
What will remain most memorable to me about this film will be Binoche's great performance. Widowed by the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Binoche's Amira will do whatever she can to protect the life of her troubled son and in the process of doing so she finds an intimacy that had long been absent in her life. It must have been good for Binoche to get back together with the director who helped her win an Oscar for Supporting Actress back in 1997. She not only gives some great depth and emotion to Amira but also masters a Bosnian accent. If you've never seen her in director Krzysztof Kieslowski's"color" trilogy, go check it out. She's simply amazing and I try to take note of a film whenever I see she's in it. So, if you're a fan of her work, it's worth waiting for DVD to catch this one. It's good to see Minghella work on smaller character-study films. He makes a good looking film here and I'm not just talking the actors. His scene compositions are well done aesthetically and he knows how long to let the camera linger on a scene. So far, the only Minghella film that I still like is "The Talented Mr. Ripley" which also starred Jude Law. It would appear Law is to Minghella what DiCaprio is to Scorcese. I didn't care for his epic romance/war films all that much. Some of the acting stood out but overall I didn't really care for the characters all that much. There's some of that in this film, but at least I can understand the feelings of denial and temptation. Yeah, the film's personality is lost to a bit of nonsense that's meant to tie up loose ends where it feels like someone's simply pulled the plug on the pace and good sense. Even if Minghella can't find a suitable exit, he's created an fairly satisfying journey that rewards the curious viewer searching for depth to their drama, and more delicate touches to their acting. It's a film that is leisurely, confining, and unbearable in almost every moment, sneaking in undercover of a straight-up character piece, one that develops into real examples of fallible people trying to come to terms with their frailty.