Young Adam Reviews

British Cinema At It's Best

It's very rare that I can enjoy a film adapted from a book if I have read the book first.

However, this adaption of Scottish beat writer Alexander Trocchi's debut novel from 1954 left me breathless. Ewan McGregor plays Joe, a drifter working on a barge between Glasgow and Edinburgh.

The film begins with the discovery of a young woman's body in the canal and leads into the sexual tensions growing between Joe and the couple he shares a barge with.

"Young Adam" is Britain's answer to "Requeim For A Dream" - haunting, bold and

unashamedly intelligent. The film makes as much use of body launguage as it does dialogue and the scenes between McGregor and Tilda Swinton are both sexy and intense.

People looking for mainstream entertainment should look elsewhere, but anyone else would do very well to see this excellent film.

Slow and dreamy study of a drifters string of sexual relationships, which leads to an accidental death and a man wrongly accused of muder. Brilliantly shot and some great performances, but the narrative is a little weak (especially the downbeat ending) - more of a character piece than a compelling story.

Slow and intense

The movie starts slowly and never actually breaks into a run, but it is none the worse for that. This is a thoughtful and intense look at an "outsider".

You need to watch carefully as the movie jumps backwards and forwards in time but the performances are wonderful with Ewan McGregor redeeming himself after his awful Obi Wan performance in 'Star Wars'. Tilda Swinton is luminous shining through the drabness of her life. Beautifully shot but doesn't quite capture the grinding poverty of these people's lives.

A definite recommendation if you want something British, intelligent and thoughtful.

[Highly rated reviewer]

A tale as brackish as the waters its set on.

Ewan McGregor ditches his Hollywood persona to play Joe, a drifter working on a canal barge in 1950's Scotland, a man suffering an existential crisis and a failing moral compass. Joe pulls the corpse of a young woman out of the water at the films start and we learn through a series of subtle flashback sequences how she came to such an unfortunate end and Joe’s involvement in it. In between he beds several women; indeed he beds every woman he meets, including the wife of his boss, a dour woman of repressed sexuality as played by the excellent Tilda Swinton. Peter Mullan is also terrific as her conflicted husband but is underused.

Very well directed, with some superb cinematography, this is a tale as brackish, oily and cold as the waters the barge runs along. It tells us nothing other than good looking young blokes of a certain demeanour will always find vulnerable or willing women to satiate their desire and that some people do not receive the fate they deserve. There are a lot of sex scenes in this film but considering the nature of the subject that’s fine and they do have a realistic frisson about them. The film moves in time with its lugubrious cello soundtrack, inexorably along the winding waterways. It may prove too somnolent for some but it’s peculiarly relaxing and absorbing. Rather like most boat rides oddly enough.

This adaptation of a 50s novel starts dramatically, with Joe [Ewan McGregor] finding the body of a scantily clad young woman floating in the canal. The story then moves back in time and we discover why Joe is so interested in the woman's death. Along the way more of Joe's character is revealed, often through sexual interactions with the women he encounters, until his whole approach to life is tested at the end. The film seems to be shot in tired, sepia colours which reflect the bleakness of the subject matter and the '50s setting. I found it thoughtful and thought-provoking, and found myself pondering Joe's final dilemma for some time after the end.

Allfie sur l'atalante

I was impressed by this low budget movie which reminded me of the 1934 French masterpiece, 'l'atalante' by Jean Vigo, and also of Alfie with Micael Caine. The acting is superb and there is a similar empathy that draws you to the McGregor character which, inspite of his unattractive morality, is very much human. I think this film is a remarkable attempt at a genre that is possibly non commercial but certainly worthy of interest.

Mean and moody

I had not read Alexander Trocchi's book before seeing Young Adam. However, I was very aware of the particular genre to which it belonged and had a good idea about the storyline, style and atmosphere of the novel.

The film captured exactly what I had imagined it would be; it was slow paced but deliberate, dark but with some beautiful cinematography, bleak, deperate and rather morbid. What's more, the acting was of the highest possible standard with McGregor and Mullan giving stunning performances.

However, what let Young Adam down for me was - and I am certainly no prude - was the sheer amount of, what felt like, gratuitous sex. I am aware that this was central to Trocchi's novel but when translated to the screen it became monotonous and largely meaningless, adding little to our understanding of Joe (McGregor) or the other characters.

But that notwithstanding, this is tense, gripping and excellent shot piece of British film-making.

Brutal evocation of Trocchi's masterpiece

Great preformances by McGregor(cold venality),Swinton(quiet desperation),Mullan(dignified ignorance)and Mortimer(naive loyalty).Beautifully shot and directed.A bleak view of the world according to Alexander Trocchi.A top effort all round.

Terrible

I have no idea what made a talented collection of actors make such an dull and awful film. The plot is dull and ultimately unsatisfying, the acting is dreary and unengaging, even the sex scenes are monotonous and uninteresting.

tilda swinton...

...is excellent. For me the big let down is Ewan McGregor - I just don't believe him, he doesn't look like he belongs in the period, and he delivers all his lines as if he was reading his gas-meter. He hasn't given a decent performance since Trainspotting and he doesn't exactly waste any energy here.