The Merry Gentleman (15) (From The Northern Echo)

The Merry Gentleman (15)

5:07pm Friday 4th December 2009

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Stars: Michael Keaton, Kelly Macdonald, Tom Bastounes, Bobby Canavale
Running time: 96 mins
Rating: ★★★

MICHAEL Keaton’s career has been in the slow lane of late, which makes his directorial debut all the more of a pleasant surprise. He plays Frank Logan on the ledge of a building, seemingly about to jump.

He’s seen from a neighbouring office block by Kate Frazier (Kelly Macdonald) whose scream on seeing him alerts Logan to her witnessing his actions. He engineers a meeting for a very good reason – to shut her up. Permanently. He’s a hit man who has just shot dead a target. The two lonely souls form an unlikely friendship. She is escaping from her own nightmare – as an abused wife.

A third side to the triangle is added when cop Murcheson (Tom Bastounes) starts taking an interest in the case. Keaton strikes the right note of ambiguity as the guilt-stricken hitman with Scottish actress Macdonald adding to her impressive CV (including Trainspotting, Gosford Park and No Country For Old Men) as the wife on the run.

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