Wicker Park

At the outset, it should be mentioned that while this film initially earned mixed reviews upon its September theatrical release, WICKER PARK is a highly exceptional and compelling attempt at creating a post-modern thriller.

Directed by John McGuigan, the film is a loose remake of the 1996 French thriller, L'APPARTEMENT, which itself owed some of its plot conceits to Alfred Hitchcock's 1957 classic, VERTIGO. Told through a complex maze of flashbacks, WICKER PARK requires a good deal more attention than most critics seemed to be willing to give it.

However, the intelligent and discerning film fan (however arrogant this may sound) will find much in this film to admire and watch again and again. WICKER PARK is a great Friday night film to cozy up on the couch with a loved one and try to figure out what is behind the myriad twists and turns that lead Josh Hartnett's character to his ultimate revelation.

Shot in Montreal, Canada, WICKER PARK sees Josh play Hartnett play Matthew, a man engaged in an obsessive search for his former girlfriend. Two years after the exquisitely beautiful Lisa (Diane Kruger) has apparently ditched him without so much as a note or any form of explanation, Matthew catches a fleeting glimpse of a woman he thinks might be Lisa in a restaurant.

This sets in motion a twisting journey in which he desperately tries to find her and discover what really happened. Along the way, he meets a mysterious woman, played by Rose Byrne, who coincidentally (or not!) happens to have the same name as his ex. Her strange attachment to him merely adds to the layers of anxiety and confusion that keep the characters (and audiences) on edge.

Hartnett has finally found a role which allows him to stretch his hitherto limited screen persona, layering his performance with varying degrees of bewilderment, disarray, and passion as Matthew struggles to unravel the puzzle behind Lisa's disappearance.

But perhaps the most moving portrayal is that given by Rose Byrne as the "other woman" Matthew comes across in his seemingly futile search for his true love. Byrne accomplishes the difficult balancing act of keeping Matthew in tow while stringing along his best friend, Luke (Montreal born actor Matthew Lillard previously best known as Jughead in the abysmal Scooby-Doo movies).

Lillard's lively work as Matthew's lovably annoying macho pal also contrasts nicely with Hartnett's frequently sad figure, and the result is a film that owes much of its charm to strong performances.

Perhaps the only flaw in the plotting is the failure to include more scenes between Hartnett's and Kruger's characters from the past. Interestingly, the still from the scene used to promote the film (showing Hartnett and Kruger leaning back while he used a camera to photograph themselves) was mysteriously dropped from the final cut. (One can only hope that the DVD extras will see this missing scene restored!)

The film draws ample energy and poignancy from a brilliant soundtrack supervised by Cliff Martinez that includes a fabulous cover of Coldplay's hit song, The Scientist.

One final point: if anyone out there has ever been in love and then wondered why their partner left them, this film will take on an added poignancy for you. Diane Kruger and Rose Byrne are so radiant in this film that every guy out there will be left heartbroken. Obviously women will find Josh Hartnett appropriately hunkish and dreamy-eyed!

FOUR STARS - EXCELLENT