Like Minds (2006)

As with many films on my watch list, I first heard about Like Minds by seeing a trailer on a DVD. It caught my attention by the presence of Toni Collette whom I at least think I like, even if I usually find that I actually don’t (she is, incidentally, the weakest part of this film), and because it seems to mostly be about two boys who are, frankly, evil. And I love watching cold, deliberate evil. It’s a similar style to We Need to Talk About Kevin – that completely self-aware, could-not-give-a-shit attitude that’s very impressive and powerful. It’s the reason why I like bad guys: Chuck Bass, Heath Ledger’s Joker, Gollum (no, wait – scratch that).

This film’s examples of evil incarnate are Alex Forbes (played by Eddie Redmayne – My Week with Marilyn, Les Misérables), and Nigel Colbie (Tom Sturridge – The Boat That Rocked, On the Road). Both actors are fantastic and play calm and twisted very well.

Like Minds follows a criminal psychologist Sally (Collette) as she attempts to uncover the truth about the murder of schoolboy Nigel. Alex, arrested for the murder, swears he didn’t do it despite compelling evidence to the contrary. As Sally talks to him and probes deeper into his thoughts and memories, we gradually discover more about the boys’ relationship over the past few moths, and how dark and sinister the whole affair actually is.

As I said above, for me Collette is the weakest part of this film. She’s mostly fine but it’s ruined by one moment with a particularly exaggerated gesture that immediately made me think of About a Boy where she does exactly the same thing. There’s also a bizarre moment where Sally breaks into Nigel’s house without any kind of warrant or apparently telling anyone where she’s going. Not Collette’s fault – that’s more to do with the writers but it bothered me and I don’t see why she couldn’t do everything properly. I know films like to make the main character go all maverick and everything but she’s not really the main character – just a vessel through which the real story is told (sorry Toni). All in all I much preferred the flashback parts of the film to the present day parts.

Despite sounding rather negative, I found the whole film very compelling. It’s a mystery and a thriller and incorporates obscure Christian history and inherited mantels. A bit like The Da Vinci Code but better (despite being less thoroughly researched).

It’s also given me more of a reason to see Les Misérables, as if Hugh Jackman wasn’t enough. I’ll see if when the time comes whether or not the presence of Hugh Jackman, Eddie Redmayne and Helena Bonham Carter together are enough to outweigh having to sit through Amanda Seyfried and Anne Hathaway attempting to sing.