TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

tomgillespie2002 Based on the 1978 novel of the same name by Ian McEwan, Andrew Birkin's' screen adaptation of The Cement Garden is about masculine and social decay, and the power of female sexuality against the fragmentation of masculine dominance. Contained within the backdrop of a crumbling concrete landscape on the outskirts of town, a family home, block-like, grey and characterless seems to erupt from the ground which only sees plant life protruding from small cracks in the manufactured ground. In the opening the father (Hanns Zischler) of the isolated family is concreting over what plant life exists in their garden, but his evident ill-health (represented as a spluttering pipe-smoker) causes a heart attack, killing him. During this scene the film cuts from the impending heart attack to the increased masturbatory climax of eldest son, Jack (Andrew Robertson), a 16 year old who is clearly sexually frustrated, and is detached from the rest of the family. Just weeks later the mother (Sinead Cusack) dies of a mysterious illness, but on her death bed she speaks of orphanage's and fragmentation of the four children to her eldest, Jack and Julie (Charlotte Gainsbourg).Not wanting to comply with the social structures of adoption and social services, Jack and Julie decide to bury the mother themselves in a block of cement in the basement. The eldest two vie for control over the siblings, acting as surrogate parents, but Julie, also at the stage of teenage-era where she is learning to use her sexuality to control and influence men. She plays against Jack's frustration by teasing him, sexually luring him to gain female dominance over the family. This idea of female sexual dominance is presented in the cross dressing whims of youngest child, Tom (Ned Birkin), who plays at being Julie with his friend (who consequently play-acts as Jack. Tom wears his mothers dress and a blond wig. After the death of the parents, the only adult presence is a slimy, business-dress, convertible sports car driving, Derek (Jochen Horst). A friend of Julie's, Derek is another masculine object that Julie is attempting to break down with her sexual teasing, but he becomes increasingly suspicious of the smell coming from the basement. After a confrontation, where Jack step up to become the man of the household, Derek is sent away, and Julie has her brother where she wants him.The Cement Garden goes into some incredibly dark places, touching on incest and young sexual control. The film is also self-contained in its setting, and this isolation, and the very man made environment give the film substance and depth. This backdrop also juxtaposes the characters ideas of what natural is. Nature in this place is absent, so Julie and Jack's own perception of nature is skewed. Outside and inside the house everything external to their emotions are falling apart and rotten, and inevitably this decomposition (also of the mothers dead body) influences their ideas of natural acts - culminating in incestuous activities. The acting is superb, with Gainbourg's sexually promiscuous, flirting character she is seduction incarnate, and Robertson's detached, w*****g teenager, is rife with sweaty, greasy complexion and brooding, on-the- edge-of-explosion sexual charge. It is not a beautiful film, but the culmination of all these elements creates a daring and alarming drama that highlights the symbiosis of place and human nature.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

Apocalypse_Salem Andrew Birkin's Fantastic The Cement Garden (based on Ian McEwan's controversial Novel of the same name.) follows awkward and feminine looking Teenager Jack (Andrew Robertson) and his family that live in a council-house surrounded by ruins somewhere in England.Jack is a hard to like character at first, spending most time either looking at himself in the mirror or roaming the ruins to read and masturbate. In contrast to narcissistic and rebellious Jack we have his sweet, reliable and compassionate sister Julie (Charlotte Gainsbourg) who appears to be wise beyond her years. There's also youngest brother Tom, who wants to be a girl (and gets bullied as result in school) and younger sister Sue, who is rather quiet and internal and keeps a diary. Jack's father is strict and eager to criticise all of his kid's actions.Jack's father is sick of keeping up with the garden and plans to cover it up with cement, asking Jack to help him out. Jack soon leaves the old man alone after getting a glimpse of his sister Julie's legs and disappears to the bathroom to masturbate to his own reflection. In a wonderfully edited scene, his father dies of an heart attack and lands with his face in the cement just as Jack is about to cum.Jack first seems careless over the death of his father and continues perving over his sister, and nearly rapes her following an erotic tickle fight.Soon after the death of the father their mother falls sick and is unable to get out of bed, since Jack is to lazy; his sister takes over doing most of the duties in the house. and more games start between the two siblings; after she bosses him around on his birthday she purposefully teases and arouses him with a handstand. (revealing her knickers to him) Julie seems to be very aware of the control she can have over her brother. And despite her motherly and mature nature might not be as sweet as she first appeared to be. It is impossible to take your eyes of Charlotte Gainsbourg, Crossing lines between Tomboy and Femme fatale.The mother passes away from her illness only months after the death of the father and the 4 children are now all alone. Afraid that they will be split up and put in orphanages they hide their mother's death by burying her under the cement. (Loved this scene when the cement ran over her dead body, simply beautifully shot and then followed by a flash-back of the kids burying their then living mother in the sand during a Family vacation)The photography overall is superb, from the agoraphobic eagle-eye views of ruins, grey skies, big black shadows and almost monochrome images that create a hostile and dead world where it would almost seem like the kids are the last survivors of a nuclear blast.Despite grief and alienation from the world, The kid's are in a way liberated; youngest boy Tom starts openly wearing dresses and a wig, while Julie starts dating a 30 year old, much to the jealousy and dislike of her brother Jack.I started to warm up to Jack, who despite spending so much time looking into the mirror actually seems like he never quite feel well in his skin, Andrew Robertson subtle performance is wonderful and as the film progresses all characters are extremely well fleshed out on screen, the dialogues feel natural (even if sometimes deliberately awkward) Also loved the tone and pacing; a hauntingly beautiful, sensual and gripping film. 10/10

funkydvd I have heard people writing comments about being shocked by the sexuality in this movie and about being shocked by who was involved in producing it (i.e. relatives). Consider this: the actress who plays Julie was not 14-15 years old when this was shot, she was 22! It's called acting. And, her older "brother", an actor who was no relation, was 19. So, get over it folks. It's a movie, a slow moving but very well done movie.Truth is, I'm sorry if this movie offends some people. But, for goodness sakes, it's a story on a screen that is not even that racy. The movie is actually paced quite well to fit the somber mood and really, who can complain about the acting. I think some who have found any serious fault in the production are just trying to justify their uncomfortable feelings about the subject matter.Anyway, read the other comments, choose for yourself whether or not you care to watch it. But, if you are not put off by the subject matter, you will find a beautiful and sad story.

nicksholl *A few spoilers, if you care*What sort of a man decides to write a book about a death within a family which sparks off a romance between two siblings. Surely only somebody disturbed. Because thats the feeling I got when I watched this weird film. It had no meaning, no moral and certainly nothing to relate to, well unless there are other people out there who feel attracted to their siblings from time to time.A family who live in an isolated suburb are attempting to cover their weed filled garden with cement, (well all but one who is in the bathroom doing other things!) when the father suffers from a stroke and dies. Being within the first five minutes it's hard to feel truly sorry for the family because you don't know any characters properly yet. The next 110 minutes consists of another death and an ongoing attempt to cover it up.For this reason I cannot recommend this at all as it is completely boring and will leave you wishing you'd rather not bothered. Some people have compared it to The Shining as it deals with what happens if you left.......alone in isolation, but I see a greater resemblance with Casino Royale to be frank: they're both crap.P.S - if anybody out there knows why the teenager in the family feels the urge to run outside in the rain 'commando style' half way through then please email me and let me know, its been bothering me for months.