Movie Review - Edmond

Director – Stuart Gordon.

Cast – William H. Macy, Julia Stiles, Joe Mantegna, Rebecca Pidgeon, Bai Ling, Lionel Mark Smith, Mena Suvari and Denise Richards.

I did not know quite what to expect as the opening credits of Edmond rolled. A drama adapted from a David Mamet play of the same name it was screened at festivals in 2005 and had a limited cinema release in 2006. Now in 2008 it is finally released on DVD. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that it is not a film that is easy to pigeonhole.

William H. Macy plays Edmond Burke, a man who spontaneously visits a fortune-teller on the way home from his dead end job. This visit causes him to reassess his entire existence and admit to himself that he is part of a loveless marriage within a meaningless life. Disappointed, Edmond finds himself skulking through the neon underbelly of American society where he is hopelessly out of his depth. As a result of his naivety he stumbles from one disastrous encounter to another until he has an epiphany of sorts.

His earnest sense of fairness and justice is constantly mocked and attacked until at his lowest ebb he fights back. A violent encounter with a slimy pimp energises Edmond to the extent that he believes he has finally found his true self, the real Edmond that has been confined to a drone-like existence for his 47 years. He undertakes a misguided though sometimes strangely rational journey over the course of the evening that is both darkly comic and just plain dark. The decisions he makes irrevocably change the course of his life in ways he never expected.

As always Macy plays his part in an understated and delicate manner and up until the point of his epiphany he puts his trademark hangdog face to good use. Being adapted from a play means there are long dialogue heavy scenes where he can spread his wings. A slightly odd supporting cast play their respective parts well but they really end up being no more than a succession of cameos. Julia Stiles probably has the most amount of screen time with Macy and she convinces as a vulnerable and incredibly trusting barmaid suggesting her history of romantic comedies may be a thing of the past.

Edmond is a very short film running at under 80 minutes if the closing credits are discounted. There is a claustrophobic feel and sometimes a tension to a scene that is quite overwhelming. An awful lot happens over the duration but it never seems hurried. To say I enjoyed Edmond would be incorrect but it has an unsettling kind of impact. Thanks to Edmond there is a small twitching corner of my mind where fresh memories now reside.