Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageMiranda (2002)
Director: Marc Munden
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Outfitted in Swingers castoffs and retro pompadour, Frank (Simm) mans the front desk at a library slated for demolition. Dynamite in a trenchcoat, Miranda (Ricci) loiters about the joint, much to Frank's fascination. Her mouth receives special scrutiny when she attacks sushi, 'gorging on uncooked flesh like a vampire', as Frank marvels. The black widow also pulls on cigarettes as if sucking the life juice from some poor sap's jugular. Frank sticks his neck out, but after a couple of weeks of nonstop and apparently fully clothed bonking, the ostentatiously bored Miranda moves on to more pressing business: an impenetrable real-estate scheme masterminded by her withered mentor Christian (Hurt) - selling non-existent buildings - which entangles her reptilian sometime lover, the evocatively named Nailor (MacLachlan). This quasi-noirish, woefully confused romance springs from a stage monologue by Rob Young (notable previous theatre credit: The Man with the Absurdly Large Penis); and the monochrome personalities betray these origins. Hazy fantasy Miranda and saintly goon Frank (sample outburst: 'I come from a stupid little town where my mates live and it's called home') improvise an oddly hostile courtship dance, while the plot stumbles about in search of its next non sequitur: intimations of sado-masochism, an inevitable kidnapping. The film even fashions a blasphemous Vertigo-style makeover for its femme fatale, who is blunt-cut from the Hollywood rom-com stable of highly strung career gals in need of a 'you complete me' speech. Frank never gets to deliver it, for which we can only be grateful. JWin.Author: JWin
Cast & crew
Director: Marc Munden
Producer: Laurence Bowen
Cast: Christina Ricci, John Simm, Kyle MacLachlan, John Hurt, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Cavan Clerkin, Matthew Marsh, Pik-Sen Lim, Joanne Froggatt, Tamsin Greig full cast
Duration: 93 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Ang Lee talks 'Taking Woodstock'
Ang Lee talks to Tom Huddleston about his tale of the men behind history’s greatest music festival
Hippies who work for The Man
To celebrate George Clooney comedy 'The Men who Stare at Goats', we look back at six memorable onscreen hippies who fought the system from within
Roland Emmerich's guide to disaster movies
Ahead of the release of '2012', Roland Emmerich offers his ten tips on creating the perfect global catastrophe
Grant Heslov: interview
Grant Heslov, director of 'The Men who Stare at Goats' talks about his old pal George Clooney, his interest in the paranormal, and his fond memories of working on 'Happy Days'
The Coen brothers discuss 'A Serious Man'
Masters of contrary comedy, Joel and Ethan Coen have struck gold again with their latest, ‘A Serious Man’
Ten inspirations behind 'Avatar'?
Time Out ponders the influences behind James Cameron's anticipated space-opera on the basis of the trailer
Michael Haneke: The man behind the menace
From Cannes to Munich to London, Dave Calhoun tours Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or winner, 'The White Ribbon'
How Jane Campion brought John Keats back to life
Time Out gets Romantic with the ‘difficult’ New Zealander about her new film, 'Bright Star'
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now