Young Adam

Plot synopsis:
The film is set in Scotland in 1954. Shiftless young drifter Joe Taylor works on a barge which operates from Glasgow, on the River Clyde, along the Forth and Clyde and Union Canals to Edinburgh. He shares the cramped on-board living quarters with its operators, Les and Ella Gault, and their young son Jim. One day Joe and Les pull the body of a young woman, naked except for a petticoat, from the water. Via flashbacks, we learn Joe knew her, and scenes involving his relationship with office worker Cathie Dimly are juxtaposed with those set in the present time.
After finding Cathie's body, Joe and Les go to a local pub to play darts. Joe leaves Les behind and returns to the barge, where Ella succumbs to his advances. Not wanting to disturb the sleeping Jim, the two engage in sex on the towpath. It proves to be the first of many such encounters they enjoy whenever they can find a few moments away from Les.
In the past, Joe meets Cathie on a beach and the two soon are living together. He aspires to be a writer and spends his days banging on a battered typewriter while she works to support them. Joe begins to suffer from chronic writer's block and Cathie, unhappy with his lack of productivity, accuses him of taking advantage of her. He packs his meager belongings and moves out. After tossing his typewriter in a canal, he meets Les, who offers him a job on the barge.
Les eventually becomes aware of Ella and Joe's affair and moves out of the barge, which belongs to her, and Ella and Joe drift into a more serious relationship. When she receives word her brother-in-law has died, she and Joe visit her sister Gwen and invite her to spend a couple of weeks with them. One evening, on the pretext Gwen would like to see a movie, she and Joe leave the barge and go to a pub. After a few drinks, the two have sex in an alleyway.
Eventually, Ella's desire to settle in the suburbs and her no-nonsense supervision of the barge's daily commercial activities put a damper on the once-unbridled passion in her relationship with Joe, and he packs and leaves.
In the past, Joe and Cathie reunite on the waterfront and have sex beneath a parked truck. She reveals she is two months pregnant with his child, and when Joe nonchalantly begins to walk away, she runs after him, trips, and falls into the water while dressed only in her petticoat. Joe makes no move to rescue her and, when she fails to surface, he panics and runs away.
Past and present converge. Daniel Gordon, a plumber whom Cathie was casually seeing, is arrested and tried for her murder, and Joe spends a few days in the courtroom listening to testimony. Guilt-stricken, he writes an anonymous note absolving Daniel of the crime and leaves it where a courthouse guard can find it. It has no effect on the proceedings, and Daniel is found guilty and sentenced to hang. Unwilling to risk his life, Joe opts not to confess how Cathie really died and sets off for parts unknown.

Tags: violence, murder, flashback

Review:
If you need to be told what is happening and why, this is not for you.If you love great acting, by all involved, and appreciate the crafts and arts of film construction, I highly recommend "Young Adam".(I have one question for anyone out there who might have a feasible answer: the title confounds me.
That is very similar to the story that we have here, only Young Adam is much grittier and darker  and, well, more explicit.So many times in cinema we watch two actors give heartbreaking performances on screen, but just do not have the chemistry needed to really pull together those intense sex scenes.
It was exactly what this film needed to reach the next level.I know this story is based off a book, but I felt that director David Mackenzie did a fantastic job of setting the mood and the scenes.
Finally, I would like to add that Ewan would not have been worth seeing in this film if it wasn't for the impressive Tilda Swinton who is seemingly in everything lately and gives nothing less than 110%.
She nearly steals every scene from Ewan, and that is impressive.Overall, Young Adam is a deeply disturbing and depressing film that is not for everyone, but will be enjoyed by those that are fans of this genre.
We see only what he sees, we hear nothing more and we remember his life in little snatches, moments of dark disgusting and secret clarity he keeps from the world.The film starts with a corpse, a barely dressed woman floating in the Clyde that is fished out by Joe; a young man working the barges for reasons that are not immediately clear.
Yes there is gratuitous sex in this film, but it has its place, it defines the moments of change in everyone else's lives while underlining the static character of Joe, played with utter brilliance by Ewen McGregor.
The scene is alien to both the film and the character of Joe who gives no indication of being violent, rather a man that will walk out on a problem rather than face the awful possibility of confrontation.
Joe (Ewan McGregor) and his employer Les (Peter Mullan) fish a woman's dead body form the Glasgow-Edinburgh canal which their barge is working.
Swinton works the layers of Ella amazingly well, first the passive, guilt-troubled wife (particularly at the second liaison when Joe breaks the lamp) then the liberated woman temporarily carried away with ideas of divorce and remarriage, and finally very quickly coming down to earth again.
One of the more quietly desperate films of recent past, Young Adam is an interesting study of lower working class characters - working poor, perhaps  set against an idyllic Scotland river life we have probably never seen.
Young Adam is a powerful and atmospheric drama set on the canals between Glasgow and Edinburgh during the 1950s.Ewan McGregor is Joe, a drifter working on a barge, when he and his boss find a body in the canal.
As he begins an affair with the bargeman's wife (Tilda Swinton), we find out more about his previous relationship with the drowned woman (Emily Mortimer).Adapted from the novel by Scottish Beat writer Alexander Trocchi, Young Adam is, in some ways, a kitchen sink drama  a vivid picture of working class life in its unpleasant reality.
The body of a dead woman appearing in the Clyde leads to a trail of unravelling that leaves a queasy feeling in the stomach right to the very end of the film (and only then do we realise the significance of the title).Set in 1950s Glasgow this sombre recreation is a testament to Scottish art house film making (even if they did have to go abroad for much of the funding).
Hence, it's a tried and true thematic device, used by many authors: for example, in the tradition of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960), Sons and Lovers (1960), and many other films that explore sexual transgressions coupled with (no pun intended) unrelenting naked desire, the author, Alexander Trocchi, presents his version of the modern Adam – always on the make, and totally suffused with his own animal desires and his pretentious efforts at self-fulfillment.In truth, the Young Adam of this story, Joe Taylor (Ewan McGregor) is portrayed as, at best, misanthropic and crypto-misogynistic.
So, the question for him, finally, is: will he be able to rise above his animality and achieve a humanity that he has avoided throughout his young life to date?McGregor's acting in this story is stunning; so also Tilda Swinton as Young Adam's latest sexual conquest (Ella) aboard a coal-carrying canal barge (aptly named Atlantic Eve) where he thinks he's escaping from his responsibilities.
On the other hand, the same theme has been used for light or outrageous comedy with films such as Tom Jones (1963), Kubrick's masterpiece Barry Lyndon (1975) and Boogie Nights (1997), all worth seeing, simply because none hurt the psyche.But, getting back to Joe – so ordinary Joe, a symbol for all men, young and older – as he fills his days as a canal-worker-slave, obtaining relief from boredom only when satisfying his slavish work in a different type of living canal.
Significantly, the director has the barge enter a few dark, moist tunnels through which the barge travels – and with the men treading all over it, albeit somewhat delicately, and just enough to make sure they exit carefully.You don't get symbols like that too often in films; a delight to savor, for the location and the execution.The denouement for the story arrives when our Joe makes his moral choice – a choice so fundamental, you stare at his face, watching his look, the tortured eyes, the mouth, his eyebrows, all as an expression of the raging dilemma within his animal/human brain.
The movie has many flashbacks which reveals that Joe was sleeping with the dead woman Cathie Dimly (Emily Mortimer).The confused way of storytelling is deliberate and I wonder if it would be better to be a little clearer.
She is the owner of the barge on which the McGregor character works and it is immediately apparent that she looks for the same warmth of human and spiritual contact that McGregor wants, but she is far more aware of her needs than is McGregor who seems able to approach women only in a crude and obvious sexual way.
It is poignant, erotic and lifelike in it's viewing.Adapted from the novel by Alexander Trocchi, "Young Adam" chronicles the life of Joe Taylor (Ewan McGregor), a nomadic drifter working on a barge.
At points, you feel like you are actually Joe, seeing the world as he sees it.As mentioned, Joe is a drifter, a man with a past whose sexual drive constantly lands him in bed with the numerous women that he meets, in-particularly Ella Gault (Tilda Swinton), the wife of his current boss (Peter Mullan).
In "Young Adam" Ewan McGregor gives the finest performance of his career so far in a film that will surely claim classic status in the years to come.
"Young Adam", based on a novel by the late Alex Trocchi, hearkens back to the "angry young man" British movies of the late 1950's and early 60's, the most celebrated being "Room At The Top" and "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning." Laurence Harvey and Albert Finney were the respective young anti-heroes in those films and Ewan McGregor is their great successor.
As you watch his performance in "Young Adam" he almost seems to be channeling the Joe Lampton character (Harvey) from "Room" but make no mistake about it: McGregor contributes his own unique talent to this grim 50's drama.
In telling this story of Joe, his chronic womanizing and his life aboard a family -run coal barge, first time director David Mackenzie and cinematographer Giles Nuttgens create an evocative world of gritty landscapes, weathered buildings and ever-changing skylines that run the gamut from oppressive gray to painterly pink hues.
Burroughs once said `He has been there and brought it all back.' Fledgling Scottish director David Mackenzie has brought it all back to the screen, having performed the difficult feat of getting adequate funds to film Young Adam and gathered an able cast headed by Ewan MacGregor, Tilda Swinton, and Peter Mullen to act in it.
The story opens with failed-writer and introvert Joe (Ewan McGregor) fishing out a corpse of a young woman in a petticoat out of the river.
The event seems to be nothing but a sub-plot, as Joe proceeds to create physical relationships with first Ella (Tilda Swinton), the only woman on the barge, without any remorse for her husband and young son, and consequently her widowed sister.
The seemingly unnecessary quantities of sex become evidently clever by the end of the movie, as the only way of explaining the character of Joe, and his outlook on life.
The principal character here is a young, detached and gloomy man (portrayed with a convincing low tone by Ewan McGregor) who lives an uncertain life.
A decent character study of innocence loss in a guy (Ewan), hence the title Young Adam.The cast is generally good, with Tilda Swinton giving the best performance among the rest, as a bored and nonchalant wife.
Overall, it is a good performance by Ewan McGregor but which is only made possible by some very strong supporting work by Peter Mullan, Tilda Swinton and Emily Mortimer..
Tilda Swinton, an actress I normally find attractive, is here, as Ella, a ghastly, tough, worn out creature and a bit of a shrew but mostly haggish.Joe, as portrayed by Ewan McGregor (one of my favorite actors) gives his all as a too young to be this world weary, callow man who, having given up his dreams and fantasies of a better life, aimlessly goes through life, with no honor or self respect.
In fact, a betting game can be played whenever a new female character is introduced as to how many minutes before we're having to see their contorted naked bodies going at it.Bargemates Joe and Les's (an excellent performance by multi talented actor/writer/director Peter Mullan, who's "Orphans" is one of the best things from Scotland in ages) discovery of a dead girl at the film's start, unravels the story in achingly slow fashion and paints an increasingly disturbing picture of Joe. One always wants to route for a film's hero but "Young Adam" doesn't have one.
The lead character has nothing redeemable about him and it's depressing to watch a film where not a single shred of hope or decency can break through the grim, gray bleakness.If you like this sort of thing, you'll love "Young Adam" - as for me, I hated it - something I rarely say about any film.
In Glasgow, the drifter of few words Joe Taylor (Ewan McGregor) is working in an old boat with the sailor Les Gault (Peter Mullan) and his wife Ella Gault (Tilda Swinton) transporting coal and other cargoes through the River Clyde.
Joe recalls through flashbacks his relationship with his former mistress Cathie Dimly (Emily Mortimer), while he seduces Ella in a carnal attraction, having sex with her in the absence of Les. When the police arrest a suspect of the murder of woman, Joe becomes interested in the case, while his thoughts disclose the truth about the death of the victim."Young Adam" is a weird low paced movie, with an original screenplay, a claustrophobic and erotic story, great performances and excellent study and development of characters.
Mackenzie draws world-class performances from some wonderful actors, with McGregor revealing hitherto unsuspected subtleties, Swinton at her bipolar ice-and-fire best, and Mullan touching as an inarticulate, hurt lunk.We'll all have to go off and read Alexander Trocchi now, but, as with the festival's earlier `Mystic River', the movie's main problems may stem from excessive fidelity to the source material (beginning with the use of the novel's baffling title, there being no Adam in the cast except perhaps by inference, as the biblical fallen ancestor of us all).
While Joe seduces Leslie's (great Peter Mullan) wife Ella (absolutely brilliant Tilda Swinton) in the present, it becomes clear that the deceased girl was a young vagrant's previous lover and that he knows very well how she died.
But if you understand that these liaisons are a way to sometimes move beyond the ordinary boundaries of their lives, or forget their circumstances it is still disturbing, but makes sense.The character Joe is someone who you despise, but Ewan McGregor does a good job of getting a bit of sympathy from the audience.
Young Adam (2003)A slow but never ponderous movie that floats, much like the canal barge that is its centerpiece, through one man's series of thoughtless relationships.
It's a rough world in many ways, snaking behind the main streets like old railroad tracks, and a perfect setting for the behind the scenes events--murder and sex--that make Young Adam unsettling.McGregor plays (or underplays) his character Joe with a coal dusted, pretty boy perfection, laconic and yet not thoughtless.
"Young Adam" opens on a coal barge in a murky river that could be out of a Victorian novel, like "Mill on the Floss," and only gradually in the film is a specific time period, just past WWII, established.
The 2003 Scottish film "Young Adam" stars some of the finest actors working today Ewan McGregor, Tilda Swinton, Emily Mortimer, and Peter Mullan.
Joe (Ewan McGregor) is something of a drifter who, along with Les (Peter Mullan), works on a Scottish barge owned by Ella (Tilda Swinton).
From this we also see McGregor's previous affair with a young woman that turned out rather badly (if you want to know what I mean for which scene, one word: custard).While I've never been very tempted to rush back to see it again from start to finish, the film is very well acted by MacGregor and Swinton, plus supporting players Peter Mullan (Mother Superior from Trainspotting) and Emily Mortimer.
A throwback to films made in the 60's or 70's, but then again I don't think people really liked those kind of movies back then anymore than they do now.Basically the handsome star of Star Wars Episode 1 and Tilda Swinton have sex a lot, and Ewan feels bad for murdering his former gf.
What the viewer takes away from Young Adam, a Scottish film starring Ewan MacGregor and Tilda Swinton will depend on the viewer, of course, but I can't help feeling it slams a single point home ahead of the others.
The scene is quiet and slow, but it is one of the most beautifully framed shots I've ever seen; it rivals the best Fellini.The sex is graphic, with full frontally of Ewen (not a small boy, wink, wink) and Tilda, but necessary to show their mental states.The four main characters; the Barge Operator (Mullen), his wife the Barge Owner (Swinton), the new hire (McGregor), and the barge owner's son.
He's as bland as they come and all the full frontal nude shots in the world can't change that.This is a movie about dull people who say dull things who live in a dull place where only dull things happen and they force you to enter their dull world for 90 dull minutes plus - in short, this film is torture.So go outside, play in the sun, watch paint dry - do anything but watch Young Adam..
"Young Adam" is all about Joe (McGregor), an ordinary working stiff employed as a deck hand on a Scottish coal barge, who knows more about the dead body he and his mate fish from the waters than he lets on.
It probably helps that I've read the book, that I'm from those parts of Scotland and that I think Alexander Trocchi is quite brilliant but there's no doubting the quality of the cinematography, direction, score (by David Byrne, no less) and subtle, detailed, rich and true performances from Ewan McGregor, Tilda Swinton, Emily Mortimer and Peter Mullen.
Ewan plays Joe, a 1950's college drop out who is now working on a barge with a husband and wife team (Peter Mullan and an excellent Tilda Swinton on the canals of Glasgow).
He embarks on an affair with Tilda Swinton's character whilst, in flashback, we see his failing relationship with his ex-girlfriend Cathy (played by sexy Emily Mortimer) that leads to the dead body in the water.There is certainly plenty of flesh on display from all concerned but it is the performance and the direction that people will take away after seeing this film.
I liked this film, but this is the kind of movie that is interesting just for the moment you are watching it but at the end it doesn't leave you much.
I think "Young Adam" deserves 6.5 stars.This is the most interesting role I have seen Ewan McGregor in, he is so mysterious and cool like Joe Taylor.
This movie shows a lot of lust by the McGregor's character.Joe Taylor, a once aspiring writer, works on one of Glasgow's river barges with the owner Les and Les's wife Ella, but one day things are going to change for them when Joe and Les find the dead body of a young woman floating on the river ..............I recommend it to people who likes watching all kinds of films.
A young drifter (Ewan McGregor) is working for a barge owner (Peter Mullan) and his unhappy wife (Tilda Swinton) when they pull the body out.
Tilda Swinton plays Ella as a typical wife of the time  the film is set in the '50s  doing things that are perhaps not so typical, i.e. the relationship with Joe.
Joe Taylor (Ewan McGregor) works for Les Gault (Peter Mullan) who's married to Ella (Tilda Swinton) and they work and live on their barge Atlantic Eve going back and forth from Edinburgh to Glasgow.
In Glasgow, Scotland a young adult drifter, Joe Taylor (Ewan McGregor), finds work on the barge owned by Ella Gault (Tilda Swinton).