Thursday, September 22, 2011

Complicity - DVD review

Complicity is an old film now.  It came out in 2000.  I saw it at around the time of its release, either in the cinema or on video (old skool).  It is based on the novel of the same name by Iain Banks.  When I was a teenager Complicity was one of my favourite books, probably because I wanted to be a journalist at the time, because I used to worship Hunter S Thompson and because music by bands like the the Pixies is referenced. 

The film seems a bit quaint now.  It was never a big critical or commercial hit.  Jonny Lee Miller was cast as the lead character, probably off the back of his role in Trainspotting, another drugcentric Scottish film.  Interestingly Keeley Hawes, later to find fame in Ashes to Ashes, is the female lead here.  In the decade or so since I last watched this film I had managed to forget most of the plot.  It's OK, if a bit clunky.  I mainly enjoyed playing 'spot the minor Scottish celebrity' and seeing the Highland scenery.  I think the book is slightly better although I suspect that it is best enjoyed as an angry adolescent.

The soundtrack sounds a bit dated now.  It's a shame the film couldn't afford the Pixies.  We were left with some pre-millenium indie rock that doesn't have much bite.  The film is OK but it's not a masterpiece.

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