Soho Square

Starring:Tim Fitzhigham, Helen Day, Pamela Mandell, Olegar Fedoro, Anthony Biggs, Livy Armstrong, Emma Poole, Andrew Heath, Sasha Lowenthal, Amanda Haberland, William Wilde, Lucy Davenport
Director: Jamie Rafn
Studio: Sundance Channel Home Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

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Named after the London district, Soho Square is a stylish, gritty psychological thriller. J. (Anthony Biggs), a lonely deputy police inspector, is trying to solve a murder--a series of murders, actually--all while drinking heavily and pining for his wife (Amanda Haberland). She isn't around, but it isn't clear why--or won't be until the end. In J.'s feverish mind, the personal and professional keep becoming entwined, although there doesn't seem to be any connection between the two. Or is there? Then there's the little girl who lives down the hall and the barmaid (Lucy Davenport) who looks like his wife. How do they fit into the scheme of things? Written and directed by Jamie Rafn (She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not), Soho Square premiered on the Sundance Channel in 2003. It was reportedly shot for $7000 and plays like an episode of C.S.I. as directed by David Lynch (but with less gore). --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews:

It isn't the film, it's the script.......2005-04-24

I don't like movies that act as if they'll make you think but then turn out to be lousy stories badly told smothered in pretentious film school non-linear narrative Crapola. Just because it is impressive for something made so cheaply doesn't mean it's actually worth watching if you want to see an actually well-made movie. It is creepy, but I had guessed the whole stupid plot by 10 minutes in. So all the crazy flashbacks were just annoying to me, & not as confusing and ridiculous as they were for my friend.
I LOVE indie film when it doesn't stink. I hated this movie.

Painfully boring.......2005-04-05

This is a generic boring movie with some guy who thinks he is the London version of Colombo. I got so bored with it that I skimmed, and skimmed, and skimmed, and skimmed...etc...etc NOTHING HAPPENS. This is pathetic. They should have called this movie "the day in the life of a dork" since the movie has what I call a slew of "time killer scenes" for example: we have time enough to watch this guy sleep, then time enough to watch him take a very long shower. Time enough to watch a girl dance. Time enough to watch him shower again. Then time to watch him take a long walk down a city sidewalk. This movie stinks, that's all there is to it. The definition of H E L L is being strapped to a chair for an eternity to watch this garbage over and over again. Anyone that would give this more than 3 stars either lives under a rock, or is in someway connected to the making of this movie

So Dark.......2005-02-14

Jamie Rafn directs the creepy Soho Square. The movies unfolds when a police inspector J (Anthony Biggs) is investigating several pyro-murders (burned to death) that is tainting Soho Square. Somehow you start to realize that the inspectors past and the murders in the present are intwined---somehow.
The film quality is gritty and dark (this movie is very dark) in true British style. The score is excellent creating a moody sinister feel throughout the film. Anthony Biggs does an excellent job of portraying a police officer haunted by the past and emotionally/mentally scarred by it. However, what hurts the film was the flashbacks that raise more questions then it answers (not to spoil it for viewers--but the guy in the attic?), not to mention several other discrepencies such as how this man is never seen when he kills his victims (I mean this is London a city packed with people and you are killing them in the day time). The movies tries to make you think yet doesn't provide enough clues and insight to let you come up with any solid conclusion, thus I suggest renting before you buy because this is a slow building thiller not your typical fast paced gun shooting thiller.

Wherever you go - There You are.......2005-02-05

I like movies that try to make you think. I like movies that cause you to have an emotional as well as a cerebral response. This is one such movie.

Readers who are familiar with British tv shows may have come across a show called Taggart starring the late Mark McManus. One of the most distinctive aspects to that show aside from the thick Glaswegian accents was the grisly deatils involved in the murders. A similar yet different tale from a psychological view would be the early Cracker.

Here the movie diverges from the television shows. One of the most endearing features of this movie was the way the whole thing fitted together as if we were seeing the drama from the eyes of the main character. Sometime drunk, sometime sober, sometime in the real world sometime in a fantasy involving the suicide of his wife, it is almost as if the viewer isbeing swept along within the turbulent currents that make up this man's life. Characters come and go impacting on his conciousness. The music often dischordant heightens the dramatic effect. Is it real or is it a dream?

The movie reminds me of the work of Robert Nozick, 'Anarchy, State and Utopia, where the reader is taken from outside of the experience through the experience and emerges from the other side with a different perspective. Has he or she altered the experience or has it altered her/him.

This is a clever movie which also reminds me of the notion of illusion. Nothing is real and nothing to get hung up about. When the conclusion arrives it almost creeps up on you slowly, gradually emerging so that the viewer tends to suddenly realise what has been going on.

I found this a very moving and disturbing movie yet oddly satisfying. On many levels it certainly has generated some considerable debate within the walls of chez jingles. Certainly worth watching again but I could not bring myself to give it five stars as it is raising more questions than it answers. For followers of British writing it seems to me that if you like 'Report on Probability A' by Brian Aldiss or some of the early J.G. Ballard then you will probably like this movie.

Average customer rating:

It isn't the film, it's the script
Painfully boring
So Dark
Wherever you go - There You are

Soho Square
Starring: Livy Armstrong , Anthony Biggs , Lucy Davenport , Helen Day , and Olegar Fedoro
Manufacturer: Sundance Channel Home Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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