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Locke
The well worn theme of actions having consequences is given a squirm-worthy and surprisingly riveting overhaul in a fascinating little piece of cinema from 2013 Locke, a film whose title assumes we're about to get a rough and tumble action movie, but what we get is anything but.
Ivan Locke is a workaholic construction manager who lives in Birmingham, England with his wife, Katina and his two sons and is on pins and needles as the biggest construction job of his career is set to commence in the morning. He has planned to spend the evening before watching an important soccer game with his neglected family. Instead of going home, we meet Ivan in his car driving to London because a woman who he had a one night stand with almost a year ago is about to have his baby and he feels obligated to be with her.
Director and screenwriter Steven Knight, whose previous screenwriting credits include Eastern Promises, Allied, and Burnt takes a real risky approach to telling what seems like a conventional story on the surface. The entire film takes place inside of Ivan Locke's car driving to London and he is the only character who appears onscreen. Ivan is provided interaction through other characters through his car phone, and has calls keep coming into the car through the other people in Locke's orbit, it slowly becomes clear that this man is about blow up his entire existence to be with this woman with whom he created a child.
Knight's screenplay finds the viewer going back and forth regarding Locke and his very delicate situation. We understand that Locke wants to be with this woman, who has no one else in her life. Her situation garners her further sympathy when it is revealed there are complications with the pregnancy and she must have a C-section. On the other hand, a lot of Locke's sympathy factor goes out the window when we learn that his wife knows nothing of this affair and learns of it when we do. He is so calculated about what he's doing, evidenced in the fact that when Katina answers the phone for the first time, he makes sure she's on the upstairs phone so the kids don't hear her side of the conversation.
Locke must also deals with calls from his boss, who when he learns Locke won't be at the construction site, promptly fires him, but that doesn't stop Locke from offering final instructions to his assistant Donal, while reading him the riot act for being drunk. I would have loved a glance inside this guy Locke's brain, because his thought process and his sense of priorities seems really out of whack. We also get the sense that this is a highly intelligent man who is a genius where his work is concerned and doesn't sneeze without writing out a plan on how and when to do it.
Obviously, the film has a claustrophobic feel because Locke is alone onscreen, but for some reason it only intensifies the sadness and awkwardness of his situation. Tom Hardy's performance as the title character is intense and understated and I also loved the off screen work of Oscar winner Olivia Coleman as Locke's momma-to-be, Ruth Wilson as the voice of Katina, and Andrew Scott voicing Donal. A unique motion picture experience that provides equal doses of nervous laughter and knots in the stomach.
The well worn theme of actions having consequences is given a squirm-worthy and surprisingly riveting overhaul in a fascinating little piece of cinema from 2013 Locke, a film whose title assumes we're about to get a rough and tumble action movie, but what we get is anything but.
Ivan Locke is a workaholic construction manager who lives in Birmingham, England with his wife, Katina and his two sons and is on pins and needles as the biggest construction job of his career is set to commence in the morning. He has planned to spend the evening before watching an important soccer game with his neglected family. Instead of going home, we meet Ivan in his car driving to London because a woman who he had a one night stand with almost a year ago is about to have his baby and he feels obligated to be with her.
Director and screenwriter Steven Knight, whose previous screenwriting credits include Eastern Promises, Allied, and Burnt takes a real risky approach to telling what seems like a conventional story on the surface. The entire film takes place inside of Ivan Locke's car driving to London and he is the only character who appears onscreen. Ivan is provided interaction through other characters through his car phone, and has calls keep coming into the car through the other people in Locke's orbit, it slowly becomes clear that this man is about blow up his entire existence to be with this woman with whom he created a child.
Knight's screenplay finds the viewer going back and forth regarding Locke and his very delicate situation. We understand that Locke wants to be with this woman, who has no one else in her life. Her situation garners her further sympathy when it is revealed there are complications with the pregnancy and she must have a C-section. On the other hand, a lot of Locke's sympathy factor goes out the window when we learn that his wife knows nothing of this affair and learns of it when we do. He is so calculated about what he's doing, evidenced in the fact that when Katina answers the phone for the first time, he makes sure she's on the upstairs phone so the kids don't hear her side of the conversation.
Locke must also deals with calls from his boss, who when he learns Locke won't be at the construction site, promptly fires him, but that doesn't stop Locke from offering final instructions to his assistant Donal, while reading him the riot act for being drunk. I would have loved a glance inside this guy Locke's brain, because his thought process and his sense of priorities seems really out of whack. We also get the sense that this is a highly intelligent man who is a genius where his work is concerned and doesn't sneeze without writing out a plan on how and when to do it.
Obviously, the film has a claustrophobic feel because Locke is alone onscreen, but for some reason it only intensifies the sadness and awkwardness of his situation. Tom Hardy's performance as the title character is intense and understated and I also loved the off screen work of Oscar winner Olivia Coleman as Locke's momma-to-be, Ruth Wilson as the voice of Katina, and Andrew Scott voicing Donal. A unique motion picture experience that provides equal doses of nervous laughter and knots in the stomach.