Fugitive Pieces
0
Posted
May 1, 2008 in
Film
Poland, 1942, and an old Greek archaeologist unearths a piece of living history—an orphaned Jewish boy hiding in the dirt. Athos (Rade Serbedzija) cleans up Jakob (Robbie Kay) and takes him first to the island of Hydra, then after the war to Canada where the adoptive pair take root in a book-crammed apartment which 30 years later, middle-aged Jakob (Stephen Dillane) refuses to move on from—physically and emotionally. How the child who wouldn’t talk about his war trauma became the adult who wouldn’t talk about anything else is one of the mysteries of writer-director Jeremy Podeswa’s drama, adapted from Anne Michaels’ novel. Sliding from past to present without an overt purpose, Jakob’s story has the grand and aimless sweep of a mini-series; it’s less a narrative than a tone poem on grief. While it’s hard to invest in Jakob’s self-imposed misery (which Podeswa lightly chides him for), the love between him and Athos—and later, soulful second wife Michaela (Ayelet Zurer)—radiates from the screen. Rosamund Pike as wife #1, a grinning Valkyrie blonde who represents his half-hearted attempt at distraction, is missed when her character splits for happier places. (Amy Nicholson)
Poland, 1942, and an old Greek archaeologist unearths a piece of living history—an orphaned Jewish boy hiding in the dirt. Athos (Rade Serbedzija) cleans up Jakob (Robbie Kay) and takes him first to the island of Hydra, then after the war to Canada where the adoptive pair take root in a book-crammed apartment which 30 years later, middle-aged Jakob (Stephen Dillane) refuses to move on from—physically and emotionally. How the child who wouldn’t talk about his war trauma became the adult who wouldn’t talk about anything else is one of the mysteries of writer-director Jeremy Podeswa’s drama, adapted from Anne Michaels’ novel. Sliding from past to present without an overt purpose, Jakob’s story has the grand and aimless sweep of a mini-series; it’s less a narrative than a tone poem on grief. While it’s hard to invest in Jakob’s self-imposed misery (which Podeswa lightly chides him for), the love between him and Athos—and later, soulful second wife Michaela (Ayelet Zurer)—radiates from the screen. Rosamund Pike as wife #1, a grinning Valkyrie blonde who represents his half-hearted attempt at distraction, is missed when her character splits for happier places. (Amy Nicholson)
