REVIEWS


Reviews edited by Mark Adams mark.adams@emap.com


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GALA


UK. 2011. 106mins Director Nick Murphy Production company Origin Pictures International sales StudioCanal, www. studiocanal.com/en Producers David M Thompson, Joanie Blaikie Executive producer Kate Goodson Screenplay Stephen Volk, Nick Murphy Cinematography Eduard Grau Production design Jon Henson Editor Victoria Boydell Main cast Rebecca Hall, Dominic West, Imelda Staunton, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Joseph Mawle, Shaun Dooley


audience when it releases The Awakening theatri- cally in the UK in November. The film does feature a terrific performance


from a spirited Rebecca Hall as Florence Cathcart, a woman dedicated to exposing the fake spiritual- ists who find easy pickings among the vast num- bers of people who lost loved ones in the First World War and the influenza epidemic that fol- lowed. She strides into action like a combination of Van


Helsing and Miss Marple as she briskly unmasks another imposter. Her own sense of loss means she would love dearly to believe in something beyond the grave but her sharp, logical mind makes her all the more diligent in tracking down anyone who seeks to deceive the gullible. Florence receives a visit from schoolmaster


Robert Mallory (West) begging for her help at a school where the boys live in fear of a ghost. She agrees reluctantly and appears to find a perfectly logical solution for what has been happening until she senses a deeper secret hidden within the recent history of a building that was once a family home. The Awakening slowly builds a sense that some-


thing is amiss at Rockwood school as the cast of characters grows to include stern-faced matron Maude (Staunton), surly handyman Edward (Mawle), sadistic schoolmaster Malcolm (Dooley) and angelic pupil Tom (Wright). All of them may be damaged in some way but it


is Florence who starts to doubt the evidence of her own eyes and the soundness of her mind when things inevitably start to go bump in the night. The Awakening has an intriguing enough plot


but director Nick Murphy is too cautious in his approach to the material. The old school is never as atmospheric or suf-


The Awakening REVIEWED BY ALLAN HUNTER


The Awakening is an ambitious attempt to emu- late the celebrated ghost stories of Henry James, Charles Dickens and MR James. It shows some skill at closely guarding its true nature and any- one expecting a UK variation on The Orphanage


might be surprised to discover more of a psycho- logical period drama than a full-blooded spine- tingler. A sense of mystery is well established and nicely


sustained though the eventual revelations are an anti-climax. It also has the feel of a well-heeled, well-behaved television production and may be too restrained for genre fans yet not quite to the taste of admirers of Downton Abbey. StudioCanal faces the tricky challenge of identifying a receptive


focating as the building in The Orphanage and any attempts to make the audience jump are relatively ineffectual. The Awakening needed a bit more flamboyance


and flair to really make it fly and push the audi- ence to the edge of their seats. Instead, it is dili- gent and entirely respectable but just never very thrilling. The final twists in the tale are mildly confusing and lack the impact that might have been expected from such melodramatic events. In the end, The Awakening does not quite deliver the goods.


SCREENINGS AT TORONTO 2011


In Toronto Thorsten Ritter | Cell +49 172 858 7014 Stefanie Zeitler | Cell +49 172 858 7043 Klaus Rasmussen | Cell +49 172 316 4256 eMail toronto11@bfint.de www.bavaria-film-international.com


DEATH OF A SUPERHERO directed by Ian FitzGibbon


SPECIAL PRESENTATION Tue, Sep 13 13.00h Scotiabank Theatre 5 Press & Industry Sat, Sep 17 13.00h AMC 7


Festival Screening


SI_QS_1er_Superhero_218x75_sep13_RZ.indd 1


02.09.11 18:04 September 13, 2011 Screen International at the Toronto Film Festival 3 n


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