Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.

I haven’t heard a word about this, but I’m guessing that Lena Headey’s presence guarantees it a higher profile now that 300 has become such a huge hit.

Will viewers be glad if they track it down? Let’s see what first-time spy “Monty Gilboice” has to say:

Hey Harry

I've been reading your site for so many years I can't remember but this is the first time I've actually had anything interesting to report. Please read on:

Brøken review (some spoilerage)

I recently got to see a very early screening of music video director Sean Ellis' new film The Brøken, starring Lena Headey (currently wowing them in the 300) here in Kingston (just outside London) in sunny (and cold) England. The imdb synopsis reads:

On a busy street in London, Gina (Headey) thinks she sees herself drive past in her own car. Stunned by this strange event, Gina follows the mystery woman up to her apartment. From here, events take an eerie turn for the worse until Gina's awareness slides from solid reality into a world that will haunt more than just her nightmares.

The last three films I'd seen at the cinema all being Inland Empire meant that I had been seeing the world through a David Lynch filter (which can be pretty frightening at times), but that premise really did conjure to mind a Lynch film. In reality this is actually an Invasion of the Body Snatchers re-make, but instead of taking the Breakfast Club as your other main reference point (as in Rodriguez's glorious the Faculty) this uses the films of Lynch (and Lynch influence Maya Deren's Meshes of the Afternoon). All the Lynchian cliches are here (bar the read velvet stage curtains); over stylized stilted dialogue - check; art deco lamps and old fashioned phones - check, dark coridoors - check, Mulholland Drive style aerial shots of the city - check; the Mulholland Drive score - check. This being a very early screening we were warned that some of the effects weren't finished and the score was a temp. Some of the music they used was over-elaborate noir-style strings that distracted from the mood of the film, but the really minimal stuff worked really well. I realised halfway through that this was actually the score from Mulholland Drive.

Lena Headey isn't bad in the central role (far better than in the last thing I'd seen her in - the Brothers Grimm), but her character (like every other character in the film) is horribly under-written. There is absolutely no character development in the film whatsoever. All we learn about her is that she works in the x-ray department of a hospital, has a creepy French boyfriend, has a brother and her Dad is an American diplomat. That's everything. It's that bad that you don't actually notice the difference between the main characters and their Mirror People (registered trademark of our focus group) versions with their soul sucked out. Add to this the fact that there is no mythology or motivation expressed in any way for the Mirror People (you see them in mirrors and mirrors smash when they're around). There are several quite beautifully set-up shots and a few genuinely creepy scenes but these alone do not a satisfying film-going experience make. Some of the scenes at the moment also come off as laughably bad - there's a completely pointless scene where the Dad character is on the phone to a colleague at the embassy who advises him to take some time off where the unseen voice on the other end of the phone is crazily unnatural and had people laughing (I can't imagine this scene not getting cut).The French boyfriend's dialogue also had this effect on the audience.

Most people in the focus group after the movie didn't enjoy it but said they'd recommend it to friends (I wouldn't want to be their friend) and that it could be a lot better with some work. I would agree with this last part. With a little more structure to the story, some sort of explanation of the Mirror People (they aren't even referred to as Mirror People - nothing about them is explained except that their hearts are on the right-hand side of their body and they kill their doppelgangers) and the cutting of the laugh-out loud bad scenes that take the audience out of the suspense, this could be an enjoyably weird art-Sci-Fi thriller. Far better than the Number 23 anyway. According to the imdb this has a UK and US release set for 2008 so they have plenty of time to sort this out. From the questionnaire at the end of the screening they seem to be aiming at the crowd that liked the Skeleton Key, Sixth Sense, the Others, the Ring (US-remake), Dark Water (US re-make), Pulse (US re-make) and Mulholland Drive (there was a question asking which of these if any you had seen in theatre). In a way it did feel like an American re-make (albeit one set in London) of a non-existent Japanese horror film - It was very slow with all the colour washed out and bits that didn't make sense. Parts reminded me of Dark Water, but the again they also had a Psycho shower scene that had no tension at all.

All in all, worth keeping and eye out for, and fingers crossed that they sort it out. If you use this, call me Monty Gilboice.