Rebecca Palmer Movies

With a premise that suggests an early 21st century variation on David Fincher's paranoia classic The Game (1997), New Town Killers stars Dougray Scott as Alistair, a slimy, icewater-veined financier who gets his kicks and thrills by targeting human prey. His modus operandi involves bringing in an innocent young candidate for a new job, Jamie Stewart (Alastair Mackenzie) and demanding as a prerequisite that the two play a mysterious game together. They must find a down-and-outer and challenge him to escape from their clutches over the course of one long and fateful night. The "prey" on this occasion is Sean McDonald (James Anthony Pearson), an inner-city teen with a serious problem on his hands: his pregnant sister risks being killed by the thugs to whom she owes gambling money. Alistair informs the young man that if he manages to evade them in their chase, he will receive enough money to clear off the towering gambling debts of his pregnant sister; if he loses, he will be killed. Out of concern for his sister, Sean agrees to the contest, though victory seems impossible for two major reasons: first, the crafty Alistair has closed all major exit routes from the city without informing Sean of this, and second, Alistair secretly plants a tracking device on Sean that the young man isn't aware of. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

The director of such highly regarded films as Yellow Earth (1984) and Farewell, My Concubine (1993), Chinese filmmaker Chen Kaige makes his English-language debut with this erotic thriller adapted from the novel by Nicci French. Alice (Heather Graham) is an American Web designer living in Illinois who falls for a ruggedly handsome mountain climber named Adam (Joseph Fiennes). Bored with her dull love live, sparks begin to fly when Alice and Adam have a chance meeting at a stoplight, and it isn't long before the couple are living together and Adam proposes. With their heated romance taking on hints of mild S & M following their wedding, Alice's realization that she knows very little about her new spouse begins to take on ominous undertones when she discovers that his former fiancée died under mysterious circumstances. Allegations of rape and more missing lovers soon prompt Alice to continue her increasingly disturbing investigation toward answers she may not be ready to accept. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

One man's sexual obsessions and emotional weaknesses are laid bare in this controversial drama. Jay (Mark Rylance) is a cold, emotionally distant man who abandoned his wife and children several years ago andnow works in a nightclub. Jay enters into an affair with a married woman, an amateur actress named Claire (Kerry Fox), in which their emotional needs barely enter the picture; they meet once a week and have sex, talking as little as possible and parting ways once they're done. One week, Jay follows Claire after their weekly encounter and sees her meeting her husband Andy (Timothy Spall), a cheerful and good-natured cab driver. Jay becomes curious about Andy and strikes up an acquaintance with him; as they become friendly, Jay begins sharing with Andy the details of his affair with a married woman, without mentioning his lover's name. Claire has already begun moving away from her affair with Jay, and when she discovers that he's been meeting with her husband and sharing information about their relationship, she becomes understandably furious. Intimacy was the first English-language film for French director Patrice Chereau; the film received its North American premiere at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide