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Reviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
THE OTHER MAN Sometimes—actually most times—when it comes to a film dealing with a married couple and their personal troubles, you need perfect casting to make it work. In Richard Eyre’s new film, Liam Neeson and Laura Linney are the married couple (on screen a second time as such following their pairing in Kinsey), Neeson as Peter, a software designer, and Linney as Lisa, a shoe designer. One day, Lisa disappears. Peter is devastated over this, but not for long. He discovers on Lisa’s laptop a photo album titled “Love,” which he cannot open without a password, and a mysterious note inside of one of her old shoes that says “Lake Como.” It’s the password that opens up the album, loaded with intimate pictures of her with another man. The same man has also sent Lisa emails over the years—Ralph (pronounced as in Ralph Fiennes). Peter tracks the email address and the name to Milan and finds Ralph (Antonio Banderas), a suave man in a business suit who ritually plays chess everyday at a cafe. Peter joins him, acting just like a guy playing an innocent game of chess. During which he casually asks Ralph about his one true love—a woman named Lisa whom Ralph has not seen in nine months. Peter keeps tracking him, his anger rising every day that he follows Ralph on the streets. To reveal more would spoil a fantastic twist, one that carries an unexpected amount of melodrama in such a short amount of time. But what makes The Other Man so interesting is what’s under the surface. Lisa seemingly loves Peter so much, even as early in the film she describes falling in love as a choice. Peter and Lisa’s daughter, Abigail (Romola Garai), seemingly just wants to find out why her father is so obsessive about this Ralph guy in Milan, but is that all she knows? Ralph seems to have all the smooth moves, but he falls to pieces the moment he gets a phone call from Lisa. And even Peter is seemingly out for revenge, but what kind? The director is fascinated by the fragility of lovers and the indecency of betrayal, with some mind games thrown in for good measure. (Eyre’s last film dealt with this harrowingly in Notes on a Scandal). But he is an actor’s director first, and for all of his clever intercutting of scenes as the movie goes along, it’s the stars’ show here. Neeson is charged with a palpable urgency in most scenes, extremely subtle or somber or simmering with rage depending on the moment, and Linney is great at making Lisa understandable as a complex person, if not entirely sympathetic (to a point). But it’s Banderas who is most surprising here. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen him play such a dramatically charged non-action movie role. His scenes with Neeson as the two play chess and square off with their eyes and diverting comments are just delightful to watch. You can see
The Other Man as a compelling drama, and perhaps as a
less-than-great thriller (the theatrical trailer teases at this, like
it’s a cousin to Adrian Lyne’s Unfaithful), but where it doesn’t
disappoint in the slightest is in the acting. If you’re jonesing for
Neeson or Banderas, or are looking for an unexpected revelation like
British actress Garai, the movie delivers on those counts.
Jack Gattanella
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