ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies

TILDA SWINTON has just enjoyed one of the best years of her long career. An Oscar for Michael Clayton was followed by another plum role opposite George Clooney in Burn After Reading. Festival triumphs in Nairn and Inverness were capped by the news that she will preside over the Jury at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival. Her fearless, tour-de-force in Julia is the icing on the cake.

Swinton is in virtually every frame of this convoluted but compelling tale that starts off in the same territory as Days Of Wine And Roses before transforming itself into a jittery, tough-as-nails thriller reminiscent of the John Cassavetes classic Gloria.

Julia (Swinton) is a hopeless alcohol; a brassy, fortysomething Los Angeles party animal whose life is spiralling out of control. She has lost her job and her AA sponsor Mitch (Saul Rubinek) is the only one she might call a friend. Then, she meets her neighbour Elena (Kate Del Castillo) who asks for her help in a plan to snatch her eight year-old son Tom (Aidan Gould) from the custody of his multi-millionaire grandfather. Julia senses some easy pickings. We sense that it is all going to go horribly wrong.

Beautifully filmed in bright desert sunlight and steely blue skies, Julia works because Swinton refuses to sweeten her character. The plot may become increasingly overwrought and the film is certainly overlong, but we continue to hope that Julia will be able to escape from the massive hole that she is digging for herself.

She is a compulsive liar who does terrible things and yet we believe there is still a grain or two of decency within her. Tilda Swinton’s performance convinces us she is not a completely lost soul and keeps the film on track even when it threatens to go off the rails.

Selected nationwide release
© Allan Hunter, 2008

Director: Erick Zonka
Cast: Tilda Swinton, Saul Rubinek, Kate Del Castillo, Aidan Gould, Jude Cicolella.
Screenwriter: Aude Py, Erick Zonka
Certificate: 15
Running time: 138 mins
Country: France/Belgium/USA/Mexico
Year: 2008