Horns (15)
Horns (15)
Dir: Alexandre Aja
With: Daniel Radcliffe, Juno Temple
Runtime: 120 minutes
DANIEL Radcliffe can hardly be accused of playing it safe since he put away his role as Harry Potter and other childish things. In recent years he has haunted a ghost story (The Woman in Black), waxed lyrical as Allen Ginsberg in Kill Your Darlings, and romanced his best mate into becoming his girlfriend in the comedy hit What If.
His latest venture, however, might be one to airbrush off the cv in years to come. Adapted from the novel by Joe Hill, Horns is the story of Ig (Radcliffe), a young man whose girlfriend Merrin (Juno Temple) has been found dead.
Adding to his woes are two diabolical appendages that sprout from his head overnight, and a sudden "gift" for getting people to tell him their innermost thoughts.
Alexandre Aja's movie is a one joke affair, and the longer the film goes on the weaker the gag becomes. Radcliffe showed in What If that he has a way with light comedy, but the left field humour here finds him stranded, never quite knowing how to play the material.
The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman (15)
Dir: Fredrik Bond
With: Shia LaBeouf, Evan Rachel Wood
Runtime: 103mins
SHIA LaBeouf notoriously tripped on acid while filming this hallucinatory romantic thriller but while the actor appears to be having fun with the character for long periods, audiences may not feel the same rush after seeing it.
Fredrik Bond's directorial debut is a confused mess of a film that follows a young man attempting to come to terms with the loss of his mum on a trip to Romania, where he meets and falls for a young cellist (Evan Rachel Wood) who is trying to escape a gangster boyfriend (Mads Mikkelsen) while also coping with the recent death of her father.
The ensuing surreal tale grapples with ideas of love, loss and identity but never finds a convincing balance between the romance, violence and comedy (which extends to Rupert Grint playing a hopeful porn star).
As intermittently entertaining as some of this is, Charlie Countryman also feels borderline pretentious and emotionally unconvincing.
Reviewed by Rob Carnevale
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