Hallam Foe

A coming-of-age film set in Scotland and built on loss. After his mother's death Hallam lives in a treehouse in the woods and watches his neighbours through binoculars. He believes she did not drown but was killed, and the person he blames is his stepmother. He leaves home for Edinburgh. He finds work in a hotel there and meets a woman named Kate. She resembles his mother, and he starts watching her. That is the film's difficult part: what the character does is disturbing and the narrative does not try to make it pleasant. But it also explains why the boy behaves this way. The rooftops of Edinburgh are a character in their own right; Hallam always watches the city from above, and the clock tower passages are the film's best-known images. Jamie Bell plays Hallam and Sophia Myles plays Kate. Ciarán Hinds and Claire Forlani are in the cast. David Mackenzie directed. The soundtrack is drawn from independent Scottish and British bands of the period and won a prize for film music in Berlin. An interesting example for anyone who likes British independent cinema and uncomfortable characters. Before you watch, know this: surveillance sits at the centre of the film and the narrative places it inside a romantic frame.