Michelle SweeneyReview - Incendiary
March 24th 2009 01:54
Incendiary was based on a book written by Chris Cleave which was published shortly before the tragic bombings in London in 2005. Controversy abound, it was pulled from the shelves and PR halted, while the city was reeling from shock and trying to recover from the horror of the situation.
Deeply unhappy and lonely, she starts an affair with her journalist neighbour, Jasper Black (Ewan McGregor), but the affair is short lived when a terrorist attack on the nearby Arsenal football stadium kills her husband and son. Up until this point, the movie manages to remain solid and focussed depicting a realistic life in the London council flats comprising of soccer, fish fingers and Top Gear.
Her view on reality is slipping and she tries to convince herself that her son is still alive by carrying his stuffed toy with her wherever she goes and imagines he is with her in the flat. She even starts to write letters to Osama Bin laden in a therapeutic attempt to try to help her understand the situation.
Struggling to cope, Terrence Butcher (Matthew MacFadyen), colleague to her husband, sees an opening for him in her life and offers a shoulder to cry on in the hope that she will eventually come to love him. Meanwhile Jasper is still following the cover up lead and manages to bring her some information that pertains to the bombings and the death of her family.
Matthew MacFadyen is excellent as the caravanning Terrence and Ewan is charming as Jasper, even though his role of Daily Express journalist seems a little out of step with the rest of the story. Michelle too seems slightly misfit in the council estate but I certainly wouldn't hold that against her. Unfortunately even the overall solid cast couldn't bring the unravelling threads back together.
Voyage Review: 3/5
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