Young Adam Reviews

Ewan McGregor's infamous wedding tackle gets another outing in the graphic, second feature from The Last Great Wilderness director David Mackenzie. Based on the novel by the late Scottish Beat writer Alexander Trocchi, the film is set in 1950s Glasgow, where rootless drifter Joe (McGregor) becomes employed as a barge hand on the local canals. Haunted by his past after fishing a drowned woman out of the water, he's thrown into an existential crisis that leads to a series of unfulfilling sexual encounters. Combining film noir and kitchen-sink melodrama, this moody and intimate picture is a superbly crafted performance piece. Beautiful in its gritty realism, the movie smoulders with sensuality and raw emotion, thanks in part to a brilliant McGregor's brooding masculinity. However it's Tilda Swinton who is most mesmerising, boldly baring all as his boss's intimacy-hungry wife. Though the tale's sedate pace and overall pessimism won't suit everyone, it really is outstanding viewing, brimming with innovation, imagination and style. A future classic.

Gritty drama of a man in the grip of anomie, purposeless and without moral compuction as he uses and discards the women he meets; the colours are muted, the pace is slow, the sex fevered and the lack of joy contagious.

"...McGregor gets to sleep with all the female characters as we're treated (once again) to a peep at Little McGregor..."

Ewan McGregor's infamous wedding tackle gets another outing in the graphic, second feature from The Last Great Wilderness director David Mackenzie. Based on the novel by the late Scottish Beat writer Alexander Trocchi, the film is set in 1950s Glasgow, where rootless drifter Joe (McGregor) becomes employed as a barge hand on the local canals. Haunted by his past after fishing a drowned woman out of the water, he's thrown into an existential crisis that leads to a series of unfulfilling sexual encounters. Combining film noir and kitchen-sink melodrama, this moody and intimate picture is a superbly crafted performance piece. Beautiful in its gritty realism, the movie smoulders with sensuality and raw emotion, thanks in part to a brilliant McGregor's brooding masculinity. However it's Tilda Swinton who is most mesmerising, boldly baring all as his boss's intimacy-hungry wife. Though the tale's sedate pace and overall pessimism won't suit everyone, it really is outstanding viewing, brimming with innovation, imagination and style. A future classic.

Gritty drama of a man in the grip of anomie, purposeless and without moral compuction as he uses and discards the women he meets; the colours are muted, the pace is slow, the sex fevered and the lack of joy contagious.

"...McGregor gets to sleep with all the female characters as we're treated (once again) to a peep at Little McGregor..."

"...McGregor's best performance since TRAINSPOTTING... one to miss at your peril..."

"...A dreamy, disquieting study of sexual tension and guilty secrets..."

"...there's much more to the story than steamy sex..."