Franklyn

Directed By: Gerald McMorrow

Starring: Eva Green, Ryan Phillipe, Bernard Hill, Sam Riley

Synopsis:

Set between the parallel worlds of contemporary London and the futuristic metropolis of Meanwhile City , FRANKLYN weaves a tale of four lost souls, whose lives are intertwined by fate, romance and tragedy. As these worlds collide, a single bullet determines the destiny of these four characters.

Franklyn is a strange film because it is set in modern London and a retro-futuristic metropolis called Meanwhile City . The latter is by far the most interesting place with a Blade Runner aesthetic; architecture borne from another time weaving it’s way up into the sky. Here, the Church and State are one. Its citizens are required to follow a religion, however shallow and obviously useless that religion might be. One man decides to be unique and not follow a religion, being a vigilante. Wearing a mask not dissimilar from Rorschach in the Watchmen, Preest (Ryan Phillipe) roams the street of this parallel world in search of a killer called “The individual”. This “individual” we learn, is responsible for the death of a young girl.

In London, Milo (Sam Riley) looks to escape his being jilted at the altar ,by imagining he is seeing a childhood sweetheart, Sally (one of Eva Green’s two roles in this movie). Bernard Hill plays a father looking for his lost Son, who is possibly suffering from post traumatic stress. Eve Green’s other role is of a tortured artist who films her attempts at suicide and leads a meaningless life.

Sadly, Franklyn ’s narrative isn’t clear enough as to why we are witnessing Preest carrying out his mission. Maybe I missed something but there was an implication that we were watching the imagination of a writer forming a novel. It was not revealed in whose imagination this world was set. I guess that Preest was the traumatised son living out a fantasy in the same way that Milo was with Sara, but a little more clarity would not have diluted a good idea.

The threads of the story come together at the end but betray the story’s origins; that the end set the stage for the rest of the story leading to a reaction of “so what?” from myself. The trailer did the film no favors as it concentrated on the Meanwhile City plot strand which is more dramatic and visually appealing. It capitalised on the popularity of The Dark Knight and Watchmen, understandable but misleading.

Verdict:

Although I felt that the overall effect was spoilt, and that the film showed great promise untapped, the imagination within means that we should take notice of the Director and his approach to subsequent projects.

5 out of 10 (Wayfarer)

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