Arlington Road (1998)
Country: US/GB
Technical: DeLuxe/Panavision 118m
Director: Mark Pellington
Cast: Jeff Bridges, Tim Robbins, Joan Cusack, Hope Davis, Robert Gossett
Synopsis:
A Washington professor of history, whose wife was an FBI agent before she was killed in a bungled raid, doubts his neighbour's identity and comes to suspect him of preparing a terrorist action.
Review:
For much of its length a thoughtful and understated conspiracy thriller - the arresting opening, the professor, who specialises in terrorism and has surely allowed his grief and resentment to develop into paranoia; at one point we even agree with the neighbour's 'Don't dig around behind my back, just ask me!' But that's the point of terrorism: it is by its nature covert and so makes spies of any who seek to expose it. Being a thriller, of course, and having got its budget and stars from the money men, the film must make Bridges right about his suspicions, which leads to an even neater twist in the story. Unfortunately we are treated to some astonishing lapses of verisimilitude and a thumping car chase in the closing reel, which all but erase the virtues of the film before it is saved by the dreadful poetic truth at its climax.
Country: US/GB
Technical: DeLuxe/Panavision 118m
Director: Mark Pellington
Cast: Jeff Bridges, Tim Robbins, Joan Cusack, Hope Davis, Robert Gossett
Synopsis:
A Washington professor of history, whose wife was an FBI agent before she was killed in a bungled raid, doubts his neighbour's identity and comes to suspect him of preparing a terrorist action.
Review:
For much of its length a thoughtful and understated conspiracy thriller - the arresting opening, the professor, who specialises in terrorism and has surely allowed his grief and resentment to develop into paranoia; at one point we even agree with the neighbour's 'Don't dig around behind my back, just ask me!' But that's the point of terrorism: it is by its nature covert and so makes spies of any who seek to expose it. Being a thriller, of course, and having got its budget and stars from the money men, the film must make Bridges right about his suspicions, which leads to an even neater twist in the story. Unfortunately we are treated to some astonishing lapses of verisimilitude and a thumping car chase in the closing reel, which all but erase the virtues of the film before it is saved by the dreadful poetic truth at its climax.
Country: US/GB
Technical: DeLuxe/Panavision 118m
Director: Mark Pellington
Cast: Jeff Bridges, Tim Robbins, Joan Cusack, Hope Davis, Robert Gossett
Synopsis:
A Washington professor of history, whose wife was an FBI agent before she was killed in a bungled raid, doubts his neighbour's identity and comes to suspect him of preparing a terrorist action.
Review:
For much of its length a thoughtful and understated conspiracy thriller - the arresting opening, the professor, who specialises in terrorism and has surely allowed his grief and resentment to develop into paranoia; at one point we even agree with the neighbour's 'Don't dig around behind my back, just ask me!' But that's the point of terrorism: it is by its nature covert and so makes spies of any who seek to expose it. Being a thriller, of course, and having got its budget and stars from the money men, the film must make Bridges right about his suspicions, which leads to an even neater twist in the story. Unfortunately we are treated to some astonishing lapses of verisimilitude and a thumping car chase in the closing reel, which all but erase the virtues of the film before it is saved by the dreadful poetic truth at its climax.