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At one time a couple of years ago, Sophia Myles was tipped to be the next big female British star, à la Keira Knightley. Such fame has not materialised - she has far too much talent for that - but Hallam Foe provides another example of her capacity to simply light up the screen. She makes what could have been a creepy and uncomfortable romance into a sweet and touching one. Of course, it helps that in Hallam Foe she's acting opposite the equally talented Jamie Bell, who has had a variety of impressive parts since his breakthrough in Billy Elliot, ranging from Peter Jackson's King Kong to smaller fare like Dear Wendy. Hallam Foe lets him try another accent, and just like his American twang (one of the best American accents of any British actor), he nails the Scottish brogue.
Bell plays the titular Hallam Foe, a young outcast who sleeps in a treehouse in the gardens of his father's mansion in the Scottish countryside. He refuses to believe that his mother committed suicide two years earlier, instead preferring to convince himself that it was his stepmother's (Claire Forlani) doing. An impulsive sexual encounter sends him scurrying off to Edinburgh, where he happens to glimpse a woman who looks eerily like his dead mum (Myles). Following her to the hotel where she works, he gets a job there as a kitchen cleaner and secretly sleeps in the building's clock tower. He becomes obsessed with the woman - see how this could have been creepy? - and clambers over Edinburgh's rooftops to spy on her. It's certainly an unconventional way to start a romance.
Bell and Myles are ably supported by the actors in smaller roles: Forlani puts across a suitably deceitful and untrustworthy façade, Ewen Bremner is typically entertaining as a hotel porter and Jamie Sives provides an effective antagonist as the one who discovers Hallam's secret fixation. However, Despite all the acting prowess on show, Hallam Foe never quite grips as it should. There's nothing specifically wrong with it - it's very well shot, making good use of both the spectacular Scottish scenery and Edinburgh's urban landscape (despite a strange reluctance to show the famous castle), has an appealing indie soundtrack, and a welcome sense of humour stops it from becoming too downbeat - but when the denouement arrives it's disappointingly unaffecting for what is clearly intended to be a highly emotional resolution. Thankfully, the winning performances and great chemistry between its unusual lead couple mean that it succeeds as a story about a young man growing up and finding his way in the world.
The summary
Solid, if unexceptional. Very good acting, an original take on the theme of voyeurism and an endearingly oddball central character make Hallam Foe worth a look.
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