This film about a gay Jew being sent to a concentration camp just doesn't work very well as a film or at least this version doesn't work very well. It is 27 years since this was filmed and it is still the only theatrical feature film directed by Sean Mathias. Perhaps that is the problem, but it should have been better given that the screenwriter also wrote the play. It's a more fleshed out version of the play it's based on and despite my negative comments, it is not a terrible film. It is just a bit weak and reeks of being based upon stage material. It's an odd play that has some scenes that work much better on a stage than they do on film. The material it's based on is obviously sad, horrific and touching though everyone in it seems to be slightly overplaying their roles. There are scenes that are meant to be big moments that just ring a little false due to that and again it might be due to Mathias being primarily a stage director. Most seem a little bit more animated than they should be for a film. The two leads, Clive Owen and Lothaire Bluteau work hard to bring this to life and others are interesting including Mick Jagger in drag and a very young and gorgeous Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. This needs to be remade, but given the commercial failure of this along with what it's about, it'll be a very long time before that occurs.
Review of Bent
