In The Cut

Erotically charged but somewhat rambling thriller which has gained a measure of notoriety due to the fact that an unrecognisable Meg Ryan seems to have an allergic reaction to staying in her clothes for more than a few minutes at a time. She plays the New York teacher, Frannie Avery whose only source of release seems to be her half-sister (Jason-Leigh) and her students. After a murder is committed in her neighbourhood, a forthright detective, Malloy (a towering Ruffalo) is assigned the case and believes that Frannie may have seen more than she is letting on. Meanwhile, the teacher has to deal with the attentions of an overzealous admirer (Bacon), who may be a threat to her safety.

As anyone who is familiar with her previous work will attest, Campion well versed in the visual dynamics of movie making and her cinematographer Dion Beebe uses saturated stocks of film to give the film an unusual and striking look. Campion's not shy about challenging the audience with both the film's look (it is deliberately slow and the shots are dreamily filmed), but the story lets 'In The Cut' down quite drastically. What starts out as an interesting character study of loneliness in a big city (in this case, New York) spirals into an unconvincing serial yarn in the second half. Various plot devices are used in an effort to sustain interest and throw the viewer off the scent, but 'In The Cut' is not ruthless enough with the characters to work as a zippy police procedural thriller. And when it tries to do just that, the film has lost its identity and all of its momentum. Still, you could do a lot worse, though.