Film review: Helen

Published on Thursday 21 May 2009 19:22

HELEN (15) *** DIRECTED BY: CHRISTINE MOLLOY, JOE LAWLOR STARRING: ANNIE TOWNSEND, SANDIE MALIA, DENNIS JOBLING

THERE'S a lot to admire in Helen, the debut film from British directing duo Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor. A meditation on the nature of identity, it revolves around a troubled girl (the titular Helen, played by Annie Townsend) whose sense of her self is transformed when she's recruited to play a missing teen in a Crimewatch-style police reconstruction of her final movements. The film's long, controlled tracking shots and non-linear narrative recall the more experimental oeuvre of Gus Van Sant, so it's too bad Molloy and Lawlor don't yet have his ability to coax naturalistic performances from a non-professional cast. Still, there's talent on display here.