Franklyn is a film I stumbled upon while browsing the New Release wall of MovieStop about a week ago. I was intrigued not only by the description on the back of the case ("Four souls bound by fate, romance and tragedy collide in the parallel worlds of London and the futuristic Meanwhile City, where a single bullet will alter the course of their lives forever."), but also due to the simple fact that Eva Green - an actress I became particularly fond of after her performance in Casino Royale - plays one of the leading roles. Still, I remained unconvinced and placed the title back on the shelf. A few days ago, however, I made another trip to MovieStop in search of Takeshi Kitano's Zatoichi and once again came face-to-face with Franklyn. I had money to spare due to Christmas funds from relatives, so I decided to indulge in the blind purchase.
Normally when I do such a thing, I find myself trading the DVD in if I do not like it (as I did with the previous film I reviewed, The Other Man), but Franklyn is one that I believe I will hold on to. Right from the outset, the film drew me in with the beautifully decayed Meanwhile City, a futuristic world where mankind is ruled by religion. There are literally millions of different faiths, some outrageous in their ridiculousness (such as the Seventh Day Manicurists), and everyone is required to belong to a faith. Sure, the overall design is not far from your typical Utopian future found in a great many sci-fi films, but it at least maintains an air of originality.
One of our protagonists, living in Meanwhile City, is a man named Jonathan Preest (Ryan Phillippe), a character that is sure to spark comparisons to Rorschach from Watchmen. Basically, Preest is a masked vigilante who has no faith and is attempting to track down the leader of a particular religion. Known only as "The Individual," the leader is responsible for murdering an eleven-year-old girl that Preest had been trying to protect. Unfortunately, in his pursuit of justice, Preest is captured by the government and imprisoned for four years. He is released after he accepts an intriguing offer: he will regain his freedom if he will track down and stop The Individual, who is back in Meanwhile City. This seems a bit silly, though, as this offer is coming from the very people who stopped Preest from getting to The Individual four years prior.
Enough about Meanwhile City, as it is only one side of the narrative. The film frequently alternates between Preest's world and modern-day London, where the viewer plays witness to three stories. One involves a heartbroken man named Milo (Sam Riley) in his search to find love again; another follows a man named Esser (Bernard Hill) as he attempts to find his missing son; and the third observes an art student named Emilia (Eva Green) who is eerily engrossed in a project that has her recording her own suicide attempts. These stories are where the film suffers to some extent, as it seems that more information surrounding each character could have been divulged. I love a film that makes me think - as this one surely did - but a lot of said thinking was in trying to piece together aspects of the characters' lives that could have (and perhaps should have) been more clearly explained.
Another unfortunate quality of the film is that it flows at an exceptionally slow pace - too slow in some areas. I found myself constantly wishing to be transported back to Preest's exploits in Meanwhile City, as his scenes move swiftly and are infinitely more interesting than those set in modern-day London. That is not to say that the other characters are not interesting. Quite the opposite, actually, as all three become increasingly engrossing and are greatly aided by the three capable performers filling the roles. Basically, it is a scattered pacing that upsets what should have been a balance between the four stories.
Though slow and uneven, the film does build up to a finale that is both clever and surprising, even if one scene involving Esser does make what revelation is forthcoming rather obvious. Despite a few flaws in logic that raise some bothersome questions by the end of the film, director Gerald McMorrow successfully draws the four characters together - as well as the worlds of Meanwhile City and modern-day London. The viewer is left with a great deal to contemplate thematically, which is an immensely positive attribute in my eyes. While Franklyn possesses a number of flaws, it serves as one of the better directorial debuts I have seen as of late. Thus, McMorrow is definitely a director I will be keeping my eye on in the years to come.
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