The Book of Revelation
| Year: | 2006 |
| Production Co: | Film Finance Corporation |
| Director: | Ana Kokkinos |
| Writer: | Ana Kokkinos |
| Cast: | Tom Long, Greta Scacchi, Colin Friels, Deborah Mailman |
Sometimes a film comes along that divides audiences straight down the middle, and it pays to keep in mind a film critic may well inhabit the opposing camp from you. Nowhere does one's taste in movies become more subjective than during films such as The Book of Revelation.
The long, dreamlike silences can be construed as excruciatingly boring, the running time endurance rather than an enjoyment. The lack of explanation of what's going on can be endlessly frustrating, Head On and Secret Life of Us director Kokkanis throwing you few bones. You'll either be riveted to it it'll feel like water torture.
A professional dancer with the world at his feet, Daniel (Long) goes missing for many days after an abduction we learn about in flashbacks following his bizarre return a changed man. Though he refuses to talk about the experience, we see him chained to a floor and molested (including sexually) by a trio of masked and robed women.
Tom doesn't even try to reconnect with his dance partner and lover Bridget (Torv) or ailing teacher (Scacchi), abandoning everything and everybody he knows in an obsessive quest to find his abductors.
The score awarded to the film is entirely on the strength of the filmmaking quality. Kokkanis is a confident hand at directing a scene and getting the nuances of performance out of actors, Long particularly has a very demanding role.
It's lyric and sensuous as a movie, but as a story it's slow, unrewarding, barely engaging and seldom explained. If you like confounding Lynchian mysteries you might love the lack of a coherent plot, otherwise steer well clear.
The long, dreamlike silences can be construed as excruciatingly boring, the running time endurance rather than an enjoyment. The lack of explanation of what's going on can be endlessly frustrating, Head On and Secret Life of Us director Kokkanis throwing you few bones. You'll either be riveted to it it'll feel like water torture.
A professional dancer with the world at his feet, Daniel (Long) goes missing for many days after an abduction we learn about in flashbacks following his bizarre return a changed man. Though he refuses to talk about the experience, we see him chained to a floor and molested (including sexually) by a trio of masked and robed women.
Tom doesn't even try to reconnect with his dance partner and lover Bridget (Torv) or ailing teacher (Scacchi), abandoning everything and everybody he knows in an obsessive quest to find his abductors.
The score awarded to the film is entirely on the strength of the filmmaking quality. Kokkanis is a confident hand at directing a scene and getting the nuances of performance out of actors, Long particularly has a very demanding role.
It's lyric and sensuous as a movie, but as a story it's slow, unrewarding, barely engaging and seldom explained. If you like confounding Lynchian mysteries you might love the lack of a coherent plot, otherwise steer well clear.