the audience applauded

A Major Disappointment

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

I am SO glad I stumbled across "Felicia's Journey', as it is a fantastic diabolical thriller that reminds you of the films from the late-great Alfred Hitchcock!I am intentionally not going into specifics about the rich, incredible story-line of this film. I do not want to alert the viewer to the shocks and gasps that one will unexpectedly encounter throughout the entire course of this movie! Saying it is both phenomenal and brilliant would be a major understatement.Highly, highly recommend! 🎞

Atom Egoyan's film Felicia's Journey takes various issues into its hands by telling the story of a young Irish girl looking for her Irish boyfriend who joined the British army. Her father strongly disapproves of this relationship and in the end abandons her completely. She goes to England, by herself, relying on the kindness of a middle aged chef Joe,(Bob Hoskins), in order find her boyfriend. Joe's obsession is watching an old show with an eccentric French cook, and copying her complicated recipes. He is slowly unmasked as a serial stalker of vulnerable young women, that were in similar cases of Felicia's.The film is set in a very grim and grey-clouded world where parents systematically abuse, neglect, disown or molest their children, or simply try to control their children like puppets and as a result, they either get killed or become killers. Joe's mother, the French cook, basically failed as a mother by neglecting him and abused him by shoving stuffing in his mouth when he made a mistake while helping her on her TV show. Joe's victims seem to come from all sorts of backgrounds, all with one similarity, they come from a hard family lives. Joe is ultimately a victim like Felicia and all those who have been left to fend for themselves in a harsh and cruel world, which is the sad case of reality in many families around the world.The director does the right thing in concentrating on the character's emotions rather than pull the same old boring thriller/horror situations you find in so many American movies. Many films rely on the action, rather than the humanity of characters, which is why so many of the films nowadays are unfortunately just plain weak.

A middle-aged man whose mother was a TV chef works for a catering company but leads a secret life as a serial killer. There should be a law requiring Great Britain to add subtitles to any film with Hoskins before it can be exported to the unsuspecting masses expecting the spoken language to be English. Hoskins is a pretty good actor but the language he speaks is not English. The pacing is very deliberate, with too much screen time devoted to mundane actions like driving and walking. Little is revealed about the psyche of a serial killer. The ending is ridiculous. Egoyan has made a number of intriguing films, but this is not one of his better efforts.

I think I saw a trailer for this film, and I wondered what it was about, and since it was four stars from the critics I thought I'd give it a go. Basically middle-aged catering manager Joe Hilditch (Bob Hoskins) spends all his time studying tapes of eccentric French TV chef Gala (Arsinée Khanjian), and following her recipes. Meanwhile, young woman Felicia (Elaine Cassidy) is making her way from Irelandto find her boyfriend Johnny Lysaght (Peter McDonald), who moved to England to work in a lawnmower factory. On arrival, she briefly meets Hilditch, who recommends a boarding room to her, oh, and we see more of her relationship with Johnny in flashbacks. I certainly wasn't expecting it, but it is revealed to us (the audience) that he has in fact befriended and abused many other young women, and he has taped them! Oh, and he also has flashes of a horrible experience with being on TV with Gala as a child! He of course has his sites set on Felicia, but he won't do anything to her until she has gained his trust, "helped" her in her search, and persuaded her to abort a baby she will be having. He does eventually get to stage where he can make his move, and of course the next morning you see the blood on her night dress. He is quickly visited by the slightly crazy and religion obsessed woman who tries to make him be part of her "path of happiness", and I'm not sure but I think he saw the error of his ways, and he lets Felicia go, and hangs himself. Also starring Claire Benedict as Miss Calligary, Brid Brennan as Mrs. Lysaght, Gerard McSorley as Felicia's Father and Sheila Reid as Iris. This is what I like to refer to as the nut-case film, not exactly the same as them, to similar to the characters from films like One Hour Photo and Misery. Bob Hoskins was number 37 on The 50 Greatest British Actors. Very good!