The War Zone

A Phoenix pick

Actor Tim (Rob Roy, Pulp Fiction) Roth's accomplished directorial debut joins Thomas Vinterberg's The Celebration and Gary Oldman's Nil by Mouth in what's fast becoming its own mini-genre -- the arty family shocker. First, there's the house: situated on a hunk of drizzly English countryside, it's so white, so pristine, you know that big-time dysfunction must lurk within. As if that weren't enough, Roth casts Ray Winstone -- the monster dad in Nil by Mouth -- as his burly, pub-frequenting patriarch.

Based on the controversial novel by Alexander Stuart, the film unfolds through the darty eyes of Tom (newcomer Freddie Cunliffe), a laconic adolescent with spotty cheeks and a gangliness to rival Ichabod Crane's. Skulking about the shadowy homestead, he soon learns the sick truth about his father and his older sister (another gifted unknown, Lara Belmont). The tragedy that ensues is of Greek proportions, and though the film clearly -- and indelibly -- condemns the horrors exposed, it can't help relying on their intrinsic titillation to spike the intrigue. Melodrama arrives just as surely as the foreboding rain, yet it never obscures the power of Roth's distinctive vision. Screens at the Copley Place Friday, September 17 at 7:15 and 9:45 p.m. and Saturday, September 18 at 12:15, 2:30, and 4:45 p.m. Director Tim Roth and actress Laura Belmont will be present at tonight's 7:15 showing.

-- Alicia Potter

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Film Festival Feature Films

| Keepers of the Frame | The Runner | The Carriers Are Waiting | Tumbleweeds | Deterrance | The War Zone | Happy, Texas | Joe the King | The Legend of 1900 | Best Laid Plans | Original Diner Guys | The Glass Jar | Rose's | Wirey Spindell | Starry Night | Bellyfruit |

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More Boston Film Festival information, film descriptions, and show times

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