David Mackenzie Movies
A modern tale of morality, director David Mackenzie's stylish sex comedy centers on the exploits of a Los Angeles gigolo working his way to infamy one mattress at a time. Nicki (Ashton Kutcher) is the epitome of big-city sexuality. Terminally hip and always fashionable, he's a sexual grifter who operates by his own set of rules. But in Nicki's world of money, power, and fame, true stardom is fleeting. As Nicki climbs the ladder of conquest and begins focusing his attentions on an older, well-to-do client (Anne Heche), a strange thing happens -- he begins developing actual feelings for a pretty young waitress. Little does Nicki realize that he's about to fall victim to his own seductive game. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ashton Kutcher, Anne Heche, (more)
With Hallam Foe, British director Peter MacKenzie and scripter Ed Whitmore adapt the 2002 novel of the same name, a quirky, bittersweet, coming-of-age psychodrama by Peter Jinks. The titular character is the 17-year-old son (Jamie Bell) of a wealthy Scottish businessman (Ciarán Hinds). Still rattled by the death of his mom (who drowned in a nearby loch), Hallam retreats into a deep-seated fantasy world. He harbors amorous feelings for his new stepmother, Verity (Claire Forlani), until he gradually concludes that she murdered his biological mother. Hallam nonetheless lets himself be seduced into an affair with Verity, and is so repulsed by this transpiration that he flees to Edinburgh. His life turns a corner, however, when he spots -- and instantly becomes infatuated with -- Kate (Sophia Myles), a local girl who bears an uncanny resemblance to his mother. After he talks her into giving him a routine job in the kitchen of the hotel that she manages, they become romantically involved, ever so gradually, which spells trouble for Hallam's emotional state by thoroughly overwhelming and confusing him -- and deeper trouble still when Kate's married lover (Jamie Sives) discovers that Hallam has been spying diligently on Kate from his perch in a nearby bell tower. Ewen Bremner co-stars as the bellhop supervisor at the hotel. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jamie Bell, Sophia Myles, (more)
Directed by David Mackenzie, Asylum follows a 1950s family living in a home on the grounds of an asylum after Max (Hugh Bonneville), the patriarch, is assigned to serve as deputy director of a remote psychiatric hospital. Neither his wife, Stella (Natasha Richardson), nor his young son, Charlie (Augustus Jeremiah Lewis), are particularly happy about the arrangements, though Stella finds herself slowly becoming attracted to Edgar Stark (Marton Csokas), a charismatic inmate. Despite the obvious repercussions of an extramarital affair and the sage advice of Dr. Cleave (Ian McKellen), a colleague of her husband, Stella's slow-burning attraction becomes an all out obsession; before long, Stella is barely aware that she is risking her family, her sanity, and even her very life for Edgar. Asylum is based on a novel by Patrick McGrath. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ian McKellen, Natasha Richardson, (more)
- 2003
- NC17
An amoral young man wends his way into the lives of a handful of damaged souls in this adaptation of British Beat Generation writer Alexander Trocchi's first novel. Written for the screen and directed by David Mackenzie, Young Adam begins with the discovery of a barely dressed woman's corpse by two barge workers, Joe (Ewan McGregor) and Leslie (Peter Mullan). A taciturn drifter, Joe hoists the body ashore with little distress, and the ensuing police investigation does little to ruffle his day-to-day existence on the barge. But his behavior becomes more and more erratic, and as he begins a torrid affair with Leslie's downtrodden wife Ella (Tilda Swinton), flashbacks reveal a similarly cruel encounter he once had with a young woman named Cathie (Emily Mortimer). Young Adam premiered at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival before securing berths at the Toronto and New York Film Festivals later that year. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ewan McGregor, Tilda Swinton, (more)
Scottish short film director David Mackenzie made his feature-film debut in 2002 with The Last Great Wilderness, the tale of two oddballs stuck in a sleepy Scottish town out in the middle of nowhere. The romantically jilted Charlie (Alastair Mackenzie) is headed to a remote location in the Highlands to burn down the house of the celebrity that stole his girlfriend away from him. On the way, he is forced to give a ride to a pseudo-Spaniard named Vincente (Jonny Phillips) who is on the run after sleeping with a violent thug's wife. En route, the car breaks down and the men are forced to stay at the Moor Lodge -- home to a group of similarly odd people that Charlie and Vince soon find themselves compelled to learn more about. The Last Great Wilderness premiered at the 2002 Edinburgh Film Festival. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alastair Mackenzie, Jonathan Phillips, (more)
