Claysaba
Excellent, Without a doubt!!
ClassyWas
Excellent, smart action film.
Lidia Draper
Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
secondtake
Breaking and Entering (2006)Underrated. The acting is so good, and the story so interesting and not quite familiar (even if it uses some familiar ideas), and the way it is filmed and told so expert, it's hard to see why there aren't more people appreciating this. I really liked it, and was never distracted and disappointed.First there is Jude Law, a nuanced actor who rises above his reputation as a pretty man. He manages to come off as a self-absorbed jerk with a nice interior, then as a truly good man, then as a tortured adulterer. And some things between, all restrained and quite believable in a proper, well-educated London scene. Against him and even more astonishing (as usual) is Juliette Binoche, playing a Bosnian immigrant with a troubled son. Binoche's accent, to an American ear, and her mannerisms were so real I had to look her up to see if she really was born and raised in France (she was, in Paris, though her mother came from Poland). It is the troubled son who connects the two. Add a troubled marriage that Law's character has with a neurotic but striving wife (Robin Penn Wright) and their own daughter and her autistic tendencies, and you have a complicated world. And it takes a director like the also underrated Anthony Minghella ("The English Patient"), who made only eight movies before his early death, to make sense of this without pandering to sensation. And keeping it visually beautiful.There are flaws here, partly in the writing (also Minghella's hand), adding elements that seem a bit forced (the "good" prostitute, for example). And perhaps even the end, which is beautiful and idealistic and dramatic but a hair sudden after all, needed a different tilt. But in all there is psychology and sentiment and narrative twisting enough for any solid contemporary movie. It still resonates, even a decade later. So why the lack of appreciation? My first guess is that it isn't flashy, it never goes over any edge. You might say it takes no chances. But if you like a really well made drama for what it is, this is one to try.
Radoslav Ivanov
I enjoyed this a lot. It gives a very competent multi-dimensional representation of the concept of duality.We have a tale of dissonance, a tale of 2 families, each involving a "troubled" kid obsessed with dance/acrobatics (1 autistic, 1 refugee). 2 moms living in foreign places (1 brunette, 1 blond). 1 man with fair hair in the middle, connecting the dots. All of them are struggling to find peace, both on a personal and family level. The dialogue and the overall pace/rhythm of the story complement each other very well, inherently exploring miscommunication and incongruity.Among the broken souls, there are multiple forceful break-ins, whether physical or emotional. Those "crimes" ultimately trigger responses at the end, whether physical or emotional. The man in the center is the only one guilty of both types of "crimes", committing them on every level, both in the past and present, even against nature. A subsequent question to ask is, did we achieve equilibrium?See this. It's probably Anthony's best work. Such a shame that we lost him shortly after this.4/5 - Worth a watch, it's very good, very human
Armand
more than a film, it is picture of a state of soul. a modern poem about borders of solitude, tolerance and expectation. a film about ordinaries things in a realistic atmosphere. so, not the story or the end are important but the performance of each actor as drawing, precise drawing, on the white paper. a delicate manner to present roots of truth. a precise way to tell a gray story. and the interesting construct of details for characters and situations. sure, Juliette Binoche and Jude Law are precious instruments for every director and wise choice for each script-writer. but not only the performance is seductive. more relevant, the smoke after its end. like scent of forgotten piece of sandalwood.
Neil Turner
Don't be misled by the title. Even though there is some burglary in this film, it is not the story of a crime. It is the story of a man, two women, two children, and the complex relationships they endure amongst themselves and those around them. If you are looking for an extremely well acted and excellently produced adult drama, this is it.Breaking and Entering offers us two families in crisis. Will Francis and his wife Liv - they refer to each other as husband and wife even though they are not legally married - have reached that point in their relationship where communication has ceased. There is further stress upon the relationship caused by the problems of Bea - her daughter, his stepdaughter whom he loves as his own. Bea appears to have some form of autism in which she cannot sleep and possesses unreasonable fears such as her fear of the color yellow. Needless-to-say, most of Liv and Will's time at home is spent dealing with the problems of their daughter.At work, Will is a successful architect and developer who, along with his partner, is working on a massive renewal of the King's Cross area of London. In the film, King's Cross is an "iffy" area peopled mostly by members of the lower class - many immigrants from a variety of countries. Will's office is in a converted warehouse and is suffering regular burglaries which are somewhat of a mystery to the police because the criminals seem to have possession of the alarm codes. The cleaning crew is suspect, but Will and his partner think there is another answer. They begin to stake out the business at night.Through the burglaries, we meet the other family in crisis. Amira is a Bosnian refugee who is struggling to make a life for herself and her son, Miro who - under the influence of his crooked uncle - is part of the team committing the crimes.After an unsuccessful attempt at another break-in by Miro, Will follows him home but does not confront him. Will discovers that Amira does sewing in her home. He decides to try to find out more about the boy by taking some clothes to his mother to be altered. Things get really complicated when Will becomes enamored of Amira.This film is filled with great actors and great performances lead by Jude Law as Will and Juliette Binoche as Amira. I must admit that I really like Jude Law as an actor and in my mind, Juliette Binoche can do no wrong, so just watching these two interact was an exemplary treat. The young actor, Rafi Gavron, who plays the son is amazing. Plus, these three are supported by a long list of excellent actors headed by Robin Wright Penn and Ray Winstone.I find a certain weakness in the ending of the film in the reaction of Will's wife to the whole situation. I don't know any woman who would have made the decisions she made. To say more would spoil the film for anyone interested in watching it, so I'll just leave it at that. If you enjoy watching interesting and complex adults dealing with interesting and complex problems, you'll probably really enjoy Breaking and Entering.
