"
no man is an island ,
" one character quotes john donne in apt pupil , effectively summarizing the movie 's themes .
while hardly a great film , singer 's ambitious adaptation of king 's short story * is challenging nonetheless ; perhaps the most shocking aspect of this inclement psychological thriller is that a major studio got behind it .
apt pupil is a bleak picture destined to be misunderstood by the masses .
1984 .
wonder - bred high school honours student todd bowden
( renfro ) conducts his own extracurricular investigation of kurt dussander , a nazi war criminal who fearfully fled berlin in the 1960s and was never heard from again .
bowden suspects arthur denker ( mckellan ) , the lonely german senior citizen who lives nearby , is actually a pseudonymous dussander - much research and dusting for fingerprints proves young todd 's theory .
bowden strikes a deal with dussander : in exchange for not revealing his identity , dussander must satisfy bowden 's intense curiosity by recounting the atrocities of the holocaust from the nazi point of view .
the stories he hears keep todd up at night and haunt his daydreams , but like a bystander at a traffic accident , todd 's desire for gory details overrides his repulsion .
bowden revives in dussander feelings dormant since the end of wwii .
marching in a mock uniform around his kitchen is wholly cathartic for dussander : it leads to his torture of a cat and the torment of his " student " , among other things .
bowden , who has taken on very hateful qualities
( he kills birds and doodles swastikas on his notebook ) , engages the veteran in an endless game of one - upmanship .
dussander stands to lose his freedom , and bowden his credibility - in effect , his post - secondary school future .
all of this winds down to a fairly unpredictable ( and unsettling ) conclusion , one which requires leaps of faith from its audience yet is more satisfying than the source material 's excessive climax .
singer has yet to get keyser s ?
ze out of his system .
his the usual suspects and apt pupil are both about evil masquerading as innocence ( verbal 's tics and todd 's golden - boy reputation are plausible ruses ) ; they showcase morally bankrupt anti - heroes to whom telling the truth is not an option if they are to achieve their goals .
apt pupil is a richer film than the usual suspects , a movie famous and popular partly because its plot machinations were not germane to the outcome - there was no way you could see the ending coming , as it was all a hoodwink , anyway .
thankfully , singer has gotten most of the usual suspects ' film - schoolish geek theatrics out of his system .
some scenes in apt pupil feel overdirected and/or obvious ( the dream sequences were extraneous ) , but the majority of the film is subdued - and singer 's handling of the violent scenes is boldly restrained for a film about a murderer and a murderer - in - training .
mckellan 's and renfro 's performances contribute enormously to the overall success of the film ; while most people will focus on british stage vet mckellan 's finely - tuned realization , i 'd like to single out renfro 's daring work .
he is n't afraid to play someone largely unappealing and cold - hearted ; he strips his character of vanity , something many of his peers would n't do .
( can you picture kieran culkin or jonathan taylor - thomas in the same role ? )
renfro was recently charged with possession of cocaine -
i hope he does n't continue down that path , because he has a big future in good movies waiting for him .
as guidance counsellor edward french , " friend " schwimmer also deserves mention .
he wants to be the parent to todd that todd 's own well - to - do folks are not ( todd , like most modern kids - and only - children - has mom and dad wrapped around his pinky finger ) , and his sincerity makes the apt pupil 's blackening - heart even more apparent .
but one of the film 's ultimate questions , are we born evil or do we learn evil ? , might be answered in french , whose motives are the slightest bit ambiguous .
no man is an island , indeed - we all have the capacity to make the " right " or the " wrong " choices .
schwimmer winningly plays one of a trio of fascinating characters who make the unconventional apt pupil laudible .
-october , 1998
* the excellent collection king 's stories called different seasons spawned not only apt pupil , but the shawshank redemption ( originally titled rita hayworth and the shawshank redemption ) and stand by me ( originally titled the body ) .
Output: P