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Review #416 of 365
Movie Review of Breaking and Entering (2006) [R] 120 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $12.75
Where Viewed: Landmark Mayan, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 5 March 2007
Time: 4:40 p.m.
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer
DVD Release Date: unscheduled
Directed by: Anthony Minghella (Cold Mountain)
Written by: Anthony Minghella (Cold Mountain)
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Jude Law (The Holiday) • Vera Farmiga (The Departed) • Juliette Binoche (Caché) • Robin Wright Penn (Sorry, Haters) • Martin Freeman (Confetti) • Rafi Gavron ("Rome") • Poppy Rogers (Secret Passage) • Ray Winstone (The Departed)
Soundtrack: Download now from 
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
Cinema screens have echoed while awaiting a new film from the incredibly talented writer / director Anthony Minghella best know for such films as Cold Mountain, The Talented Mr. Ripley, The English Patient, and Truly Madly Deeply. His latest film reunites him with former favorite actors and decidedly less elaborate story. Breaking and Entering is no epic love story or taught psychological thriller. Rather it concerns the rather mundane lives of regular people who become entangled when a teenage, Bosnian immigrant boy named Miro (Rafi Gavron), collaborating with his uncle and cousins, break in through the roof windows to the restorative architecture firm of Will Francis (Jude Law) using their acrobatic skills and steal all of the highly prized Apple Computers and laptops. Miro is intrigued by the scale models of the firm's current projects, and he swipes a few of the figures along with the laptops. This fracture of Will's working world cracks open a look into his home life that is anything but dandy. His half Swedish / half USAer wife, Liv (Robin Wright Penn) is dearly unhappy in life.
"…a handsome film with great performances and edgy urban conflicts with modern lines and intersecting angles."
She's given up her career to deal with her daughter by her previous lover who endures some growing behavioral disorders be they a mild form of autism or obsessive compulsive disorder isn't clear. The fact of the matter is that Bea (Poppy Rogers) won't sleep, won't eat normally, keeps her parents up all night, inexplicably hordes batteries, and prefers to be doing summersaults perpetually to anything else. This creates tension for Will and Liv as Live copes with the guilt all parents endure whenever their children endure anything out of the ordinary. The growing rift between the two, however, takes Will down some unexpected paths. First, he encounters Oana (Vera Farmiga) a prostitute from the Kings Crossing area of London where Will's firm is working hard to restore the area to a new luster with innovative cityscape designs. As he and his business partner, Sandy (Martin Freeman) stake out their office space after the second straight nighttime break in, Oana approaches the car assuming they are cruising the area for action. She invites herself into the car, chats, tries to sell her services, and finds two men uninterested those services but intrigued by her nonetheless. Over the next few weeks Will meets with her, shares his problems, drinks coffee, and feels he's making a friend. One evening, however, everything would change, for he would catch sight of Miro in the act of breaking in. Leaping from the car, he pursues Miro and discovers the location of his residence. He does not pursue any further figuring that could be even more dangerous. When he returns, his car, somewhat not surprisingly is gone, and there's no sign of Oana either. With Miro and his gang too afraid to steal and Oana out of his life, Will decides to get to the bottom of Miro's thefts. He pays Miro's home a visit and meets his mother, Amira (Juliette Binoche). He likes her from the moment he meets her. Fumbling words and unable to think straight, he manufactures a broken sport jacket that needs tailoring and repairs, Amira's specialty. Again he plummets into weeks of clandestine meetings, but as things worsen for him at home, he draws closer and closer to the widowed Amira. Eventually, however, an unexpected double cross will force Will to confront his past demons and set all things right again.
Truly, Anthony Minghella has crafted a handsome film with great performances and edgy urban conflicts with modern lines and intersecting angles. The heart this film is Will Francis as he comes to grips with the excuses and lies he puts between true love, safety, and the comfort afforded by a closely knit family and the caged sense of responsibility that comes with it. The rest of the players are reduced to pawns until the double cross where one loan pawn crosses the board to become queen of the game. Ultimately, this is a test of Will's integrity and honor, though, as he will have to make the ultimate decisions, cause immeasurable pain to those he loves, and do what's right to save the future of a young boy. Prying open a window and looking in like voyeurs into Will's life becomes the source of intrigue for the film, arguably what's there smarts of being tame in comparison to today's headlines. Was this the point? Were we supposed to notice that we no longer find Will's circumstances all that shocking? Has our culture grown numb beyond reason? Are these things we accept as matter-of-fact much like Will's car theft? Certainly a good film with good characters, however, the film lacks the proportions of Minghella's other works. Not that this is disappointing, it's just very a very different experience. This story seems more well-suited for a mini-series where the layers could have been more fully-developed, there might have been time for Will's relationship with Miro to be explored, etc.
Truly, Anthony Minghella has crafted a handsome film with great performances and edgy urban conflicts with modern lines and intersecting angles. The heart this film is Will Francis as he comes to grips with the excuses and lies he puts between true love, safety, and the comfort afforded by a closely knit family and the caged sense of responsibility that comes with it. The rest of the players are reduced to pawns until the double cross where one loan pawn crosses the board to become queen of the game. Ultimately, this is a test of Will's integrity and honor, though, as he will have to make the ultimate decisions, cause immeasurable pain to those he loves, and do what's right to save the future of a young boy. Prying open a window and looking in like voyeurs into Will's life becomes the source of intrigue for the film, arguably what's there smarts of being tame in comparison to today's headlines. Was this the point? Were we supposed to notice that we no longer find Will's circumstances all that shocking? Has our culture grown numb beyond reason? Are these things we accept as matter-of-fact much like Will's car theft? Certainly a good film with good characters, however, the film lacks the proportions of Minghella's other works. Not that this is disappointing, it's just very a very different experience. This story seems more well-suited for a mini-series where the layers could have been more fully-developed, there might have been time for Will's relationship with Miro to be explored, etc.
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Other Projects Featuring Breaking and Entering (2006)
Cast Members
Jude Law
• Vera Farmiga • Juliette BinocheRobin Wright Penn
• Martin Freeman • Rafi GavronPoppy Rogers
• Ray WinstoneWriter / Director
Anthony Minghella
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Breaking and Entering (2006) Review-lite [150-word cap]
Cinemas have echoed awaiting a new film from Anthony Minghella best know for such films as Cold Mountain and The English Patient. His latest film reunites him with former favorite actors and a decidedly less elaborate story. Breaking and Entering is no epic love story. Rather it concerns the mundane lives of regular people. Starring Jude Law as an architect in a complicated marriage whose world is upended when a gang breaks into his office and steals his computers. Joining Law are Robin Wright Penn, Vera Farmiga, and Juliette Binoche as his love interests. Minghella has crafted a handsome film with great performances and edgy urban conflicts with modern lines and intersecting angles. The heart this film is Will Francis as he comes to grips with excuses and lies he puts between love afforded by a closely knit family and the caged sense of responsibility that comes with it.
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