
Time Out
Ties itself up in some strange knots, but Michael Winterbottom conjures up a haunting gothic atmosphere in Siena.
Full reviewKate Beckinsale, Daniel Brühl and Cara Delevingne star in this dramatic-thriller, a fictionalised version of the notorious Amanda Knox murder case. From director Michael Winterbottom (The Trip, 24 Hour Party People).
"In 2007, a twenty-one-year-old British student named Meredith Kercher was brutally murdered in Perugia, Italy. Suspicions turned almost immediately to her American flatmate, Amanda Knox. The ensuing arrests, trial, and convictions — which involved Knox's Italian boyfriend, a bar owner, and a young drifter originally from Ivory Coast — made for a major international story and occupied immense tabloid space. Michael Winterbottom has used the famous case, changing all the names in the process, as the jumping-off point...
"Winterbottom tells this tale from the perspective of a filmmaker who wants to make a movie based on a book about the murder. Thomas (Brühl) provides an outsider's point of view as he enters the scene and begins to interview people wrapped up in the case, including the American journalist who wrote the book (Beckinsale), and locals who knew the victim and her suspected killer." (Toronto International Film Festival)
LessTies itself up in some strange knots, but Michael Winterbottom conjures up a haunting gothic atmosphere in Siena.
Full reviewWhile the central thesis, that truth can only be told through fiction, is sound ("real truth and justice" having become "just a popularity contest"), this remains too clumsily schematic to get beneath the surface of its subject.
Full reviewIt is shallow and glib, and Brühl's fantasies and nightmares lead to some terrible tonal misjudgments and wrong notes.
Full reviewThere are many good things in the swiftly-moving narrative, filmed with a hand-held camera to give a documentary look.
Full reviewOn one level a fascinating refraction of the Amanda Knox trial into an examination of perception, on another an increasingly trying hall of mirrors.
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