THE INTENDED
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: Two innocents, an optimistic surveyor and his fiancee, come to a steamy, sinister trading settlement in the Malaysian Jungle. They run afoul of a supremely dysfunctional family. Black moods and blacker deeds in the grim deep undergrowth. Rating: 4 (0 to 10), 0 (-4 to +4)
This is a sort of tawdry melodrama set in a sticky, sleazy, sweaty trading outpost in the jungle on the Menkuang River near Ivory Bay. Presumably this was somewhat inspired by Joseph Conrad and might have stood with his works if there was some deep profundity obvious. Sadly, there was no such resonance evident. That leaves just the dark and dank emotional drama. A British couple, betrothed but not yet married, come to the jungle trading post as the husband Haimish (JJ Feild) has been hired to explore roots in the forest. He goes off on an expedition to do so, leaving his wife-to-be in the hands of the rather unsavory family that runs the trading post. The family consists of the woman who runs the post for "the Company" ("Out here I am the company," Mrs. Jones proudly proclaims), her nephew, and her son William who seems wasting into barbarity. William has been educated in England, but now sits like an animal in a cage and broods resenting his mother's power over him. There is also the degraded and conscience-ridden priest and maybe one or two others. All are struggling over the little bit of money there is because it is the only ticket back to civilization. Kristian Levring directs and Janet McTeer, Olympia Dukakis, and Brenda Fricker star. The cast is good and one might find oneself pulled in by the mood. But taking a step backward it just seems like overwrought claptrap.
The basic concept of people trapped in a sweaty hell, looking for the money to get anywhere but there could have been borrowed from WAGES OF FEAR, but sadly THE INTENDED shares none of that film's excitement. Instead, it is a story of power and evil in the jungle that has everything that Conrad would give it but deep meaning. I give it a 4 on the 0 to 10 scale and a 0 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
Copyright 2003 Mark R. Leeper
========== X-RAMR-ID: 33796 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 829903 X-RT-TitleID: 10001991 X-RT-AuthorID: 1309 X-RT-RatingText: 4/10
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