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Back Shelf Beauties
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Young Adam If you see someone in this movie and you want to see him or her naked, eventually you will. Just wait for it. This is one movie full of nudity and dirty sex (not dirty as in naughty, dirty as in they have sex in the mud and in the forest and with custard, you have to see it to believe it), but who thought raw sex could be so boring? Ewan McGregor stars as Joe - a drifter in Scotland who has a way with the ladies. Much like he drifts from job to job and place to place, he drifts from lady to lady with horrible ramifications. While working on a barge with a husband and wife team, Les (Peter Mullan) and Ella (Tilda Swinton), he finds a dead body floating in the river. The police embark on an investigation to determine what happened to her, but Joe might know more than he is letting on. What does Joe know? What kind of trouble can he get into with Ella? Young Adam is one of those very slow moving, trying to be moody type of movies that takes too long to develop and doesn't have enough action to keep you interested while the plot develops. Writer/director David Mackenzie does a good job structuring a parallel between Joe's current relationship with Ella and a past relationship he had with Cathie (Emily Mortimer), which shows us Joe's tendencies and behaviors that repeat no matter what happens. However, Mackenzie sets a tone that is so low energy you might find yourself falling asleep. He doesn't turn on the plot twists and big revelations until late in the movie, so you might spend most of your time wondering why you should care about any of it. While I know many people will be praising Young Adam for its sparse dialogue and reliance on McGregor and Swinton to say more with less, I need dialogue. McGregor and Swinton are very good with the way they bring out their characters' feelings, desires, fears, failures and more, but I wish they could talk. Say something! It think it would have ratcheted up the energy and drawn the audience into the middle of Joe's inner conflict and Ella's actions to destroy her marriage. Young Adam is rated NC-17 for the sex and nudity, but doesn't have enough excitement for me. 1 ½ Waffles (Out Of 4) Copyright 2004 - WaffleMovies.com
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