Fletch's (Mini) Film Review: Tell No One

For me, you, and everyone else, but mostly for my friend Chris, who sent me an email this morning titled "For the love of God - CageFestaPaLoozA must die" and followed that up with "Why not film reviews of the William Shatner oeuvre next week? Good Christ. I can’t stand Cage," I offer you a brief respite from Cagefest. Here's a mini review of a flick I saw two or three weeks ago. Cagefest will wrap up later this week.

Alex Beck (François Cluzet) is a happily married man on vacation in rural France with his wife, sister and some friends. After an evening filled with frolicking in the woods and making another mark on a tree they've marked since their romance began in childhood, Alex and Margot (Marie-Josée Croze) embark on some skinnydipping in a nearby pond. Later, Margot goes to check on their dog when Alex hears some strange noises followed by a shriek. He chases after her, only to be knocked out by an unseen attacker.

Eight years later. Margot is dead, but a series of events lead to Alex receiving a bizarre email from an unknown sender. Eventually, he sees a grainy, ghostly video of what appears to be Margot sending out a message for help. Is this White Noise? No, it's a highly acclaimed French thriller directed by Guillaume Canet.

Cluzet, who looks like the love child of Dustin Hoffman and Simon Cowell, gives a terrific performance as the unraveling Alex - still suspected of wrongdoing all those years ago. On the run from les gendarmes, unknowing of who he can trust, Alex is a man without a country fighting a ticking clock that he can't hear.

Canet does a solid job setting up the film's premise, and Tell No One features two of the best scenes I've seen this year (one an extended chase on foot, the other a relevatory moment for Alex set to U2's "With or Without You"). But a neverending Scooby Doo third act, along with a 125-minute run time eventually do him in. No stone is left unturned, no plot point left open for debate. Damn meddling kids...

Fletch's Film Rating:

"You seem a decent fellow. I hate to kill you."