DEAR reader, you might want to sit down for this Gerard Butler-related news. Despite being best known as a hunk-a-hunk of burning beefcake in popcorn potboilers and gloopy romcoms, the boy from Paisley is (are you ready for this, breakable objects out the way, easily scared pets in another room?) a pretty darn fine actor when he puts his mind to it, as he shows in The Vanishing.
Directed by Kristoffer Nyholm of The Killing fame, this based-on -a-true-story tale about the disappearance of three lighthouse keepers on Flannan Isle, off Lewis, is a gripping blend of Scandi noir and Scots gruff with plenty to recommend it, including Butler’s performance.
The original mystery took place just before Christmas in 1900 when a passing ship reported that the light was not working. On further investigation, the keepers were nowhere to be found. There have been many theories as to what happened, but no definitive conclusions. The field was clear, then, for writers Joe Bone and Celyn Jones, and they duly go for it.
Nyholm opens with a farewell to loved ones at the docks. James Ducat (Butler) is leaving behind his wife and children, head keeper Thomas Marshall (Peter Mullan on typically solid form) has no-one to see him off, and the youngster of the group, Donald McArthur (impressive newcomer Connor Swindells) is larking about.
On arrival at Flannan to relieve the current crew, Marshall sees one of them is sporting a black eye. Six weeks cooped up on a remote island with two others is clearly not an easy gig.
Nyholm soon gets down to business with a vicious storm that leaves behind piles of dead seagulls. Not even Marshall, who has spent a lifetime in these parts, has seen that before. That sight is soon replaced by another grim discovery.
To say any more would spoil a good yarn. Enough to say that Nyholm ramps up the tension and keeps the twists coming as the keepers are tested to breaking point. Certainly, he over-eggs the pudding and pulls the same trick, let’s call it the Lazarus, once too often, but on the whole this is a gutsy, rollicking, thrill of a movie with a trio of cracking performances at its core.
Also worth a look this week is the documentary Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story (15)****. Packed with contributions from friends and family, it will chiefly be of interest to fans of Sievey’s cult comedy character Frank Sidebottom (think large, papier mache head, northern English accent), but it is also a fascinating, amusing, and at times surprisingly moving look at a creative soul who never quite got the breaks he wanted, or deserved.
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