BROKEN (2013)

5 out of 10

Release Date: 8th March 2013

Director: Rufus Norris (London Road)

Cast: Tim Roth, Eloise Laurence, Cillian Murphy, Rory Kinnear, Robert Emms, Zana Marjanovic, Clare Burt, Rosalie Kosky, George Sargeant, Lily James with Bill Milner and Denis Lawson

Writer: Daniel Clay / Mark O’Rowe

Trailer:  BROKEN

Broken is a very melodramatic ensemble piece that bites off way too much more than it can chew.  Not unlike last year’s Victim, Broken tries to squash in so much plot and incident it cannot hope to do justice to everything. Set in a cup-de-sac somewhere in the home counties we have the improbably named female, Skunk (Eloise Laurence), a diabetes afflicted young teenager who lives with her divorced father, Archie (TIM ROTH – THE LIABILITY) and a carer / cleaner, Kasia (ZANA MARJANOVIC – IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY).  Next door to them lives a family of three teenage girls and their violent, widowed father, Bob (RORY KINNEAR – JAMES BOND: SKYFALL) who has severe issues with having to live across the close to the mentally ill psychotic Rick (ROBERT EMMS – WAR HORSE). Throw into the mix a commitment-a-phobe school teacher boyfriend of Kasia, Mike (CILLIAN MURPHY – RETREAT), the sexual awakening of Skunk’s older brother Jed (BILL MILNER – SON OF RAMBOW), Skunk’s first boyfriend (GEORGE SERGEANT) and a heap of misunderstandings and you have a powder cake of plot and event.

Broken is uniformly well acted. And as a coming of age tale it works to a degree but all too often the main character is taken on a very strange journey that beggars belief.  It’s one of those stories that is so strange that it really could happen in true-life but at the same time it feels too contrived.  Instead of pulling on the heartstrings and getting us all worked up emotionally, the writer fails to give the story any wiggle room to establish the characters beyond ciphers. The script itself is convincing and the older members of the cast pull of their roles effortlessly, so it’s a shame to report that the young leads aren’t as relaxed and up to the task. Mostly first timers the young leads have a lot acting baggage to carry and sadly they stumble, where more accomplished actors would have been able to sell us their predicaments. Saying that, we’re still along way ahead of the Harry Potter balsa wood allstars of Hogwarts.  Tim Roth makes up for his other UK venture, The Liability, with a subtle performance. The other high profile actor onboard, Cillian Murphy’s supporting role is much less showier than we’re used to seeing. So it’s an interesting choice for him. Acting spoils go to (the previously unknown to me) Robert Emms who puts in a heartbreaking performance as the confused and frightened Rick Buckley. Constantly taunted by the girls across the road (unfairly) for being a ‘paedo’ you really pull for a better outcome for his character. But Broken lives in a land populated by Daily Mail readers where anything that can go wrong does go wrong and takes it to the extreme. Also deserving of a special mention is Rory Kinnear, who is cast against type as the thug father, Bob Oswald.

If Broken‘s plotting had been less elaborate, fixed, and a bit looser it  may have been easier to enjoy. It feels like we’re on a sprint to experience as much event and emotion in as short a time as possible. It’s like the writer is trying to say “you think that’s sad and shocking, watch THIS, now this… oh yeah and this!”  A bit less incident would have gone a long way. It’s good that there are some films like this being made in the UK about real people and not zombies or gangsters. It’s just this was too over the top as if trying to make up for the absence of films about ‘life’ by packing in four films worth of stories. 90 minutes just isn’t enough time.

5 out of 10 – Broken would have benefitted from either a much longer running time or fewer story lines. SPOILER: an ending set in Heaven should have been axed because it undoes a lot of hard work by it’s professional cast and the scriptwriter. Unsure acting from the young leads also upsets the applecart as everything else seems quite realistic.  A curio then, but it’s far from the masterpiece it wants to be.

WHAT HAVE I SEEN THAT ACTOR IN BEFORE?

• Tim Roth: Tin Star (TV), Twin Peaks (TV), Hardcore Henry, The Hateful 8, Selma, Grace Of Monaco, Mobius, The Liability, Arbitrage, Lie To Me (TV), The Incredible Hulk (2008), Funny Games (2007), Youth With Youth, Dark Water (2005), Don’t Come Knocking, Silver City, The Beautiful Country, To Kill a King, The Musketeer, Invincible, Planet Of The Apes (2001), The Million Dollar Hotel, The Legend Of 1900, The War Zone (dir), Liar, Hoodlum, Gridlock’d, Everyone Says I Love You, Four Rooms, Rob Roy, Captives, Little Odessa, Pulp Fiction, Bodies Rest & Motion, Jumpin’ At The Boneyard, Reservoir Dogs, Rosencrantz & Guilderstern Are Dead, Vincent & Theo, The Cook The Thief His Wife and Her Lover, To Kill a Priest, The Hit, Meantime, Made In Britain
• Eloise Laurence: London Road
• Cillian Murphy: Dunkirk, Peaky Blinders (TV), Free Fire,  Anthropoid, In The Heart of the Sea, Peaky Blinders (TV), Transcendence, The Dark Knight Rises, Red Lights, In Time, Retreat, Tron 2, Inception, The Dark Knight, Sunshine (2007), The Wind That Shakes The Barley, Breakfast On Pluto, Red Eye, Batman Begins, Cold Mountain, Girl With a Pearl Earring,  Intermission, Cold Mountain, 28 Days Later, Disco Pigs, The Trench
• Rory Kinnear: Watership Down (voice) (TV), iBoy, Trespass Against Us, James Bond – Spectre, Penny Dreadful (TV), The Casual Vacancy (TV), Man Up, Cuban Fury, James Bond – Skyfall,  Wild Target (2010), James Bond – Quantum Of Solace
• Robert Emms: Kick Ass 2, Mirror Mirror, War Horse, Anonymous
• Zana Marjanovic: In The Land Of Blood and Honey
• Claire Burt: The Levelling, London Road
• Lily James: The Exception, Baby Driver, War and Peace (TV), Burnt, Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, Downton Abbey (TV), Cinderella (2015), Fast Girls, Wrath Of The Titans
• Bill Milner: iBoy, Dunkirk, Anthropoid, Locke (voice), X Men – First Class, Sex & Drugs & Rock-N-Roll, Is Anybody There?, Son Of Rambow
• Denis Lawson: The Machine (2014), New Tricks (TV), The Wee Man, Perfect Sense, Holby City (TV), Kit Curran (TV), Return Of The Jedi, Local Hero, The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars- A New Hope