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Review: Emulsion


Published: 13:50, 29 January 2014
 | Updated: 14:02, 29 January 2014



Claudia Bassols is a woman of mystery in independent movie Emulsion.
Claudia Bassols is a woman of mystery in independent movie Emulsion.

Emulsion

***

A LOW budget British movie is not the sort of attraction that usually brings an international audience to Eden Court.

Yet the Scottish premiere of Suki Singh’s art house thrillerEmulsion did just that. Not only did it bring in fans from throughout Scotland, fans from Germany and even the USA and Canada had flown into Inverness just for this screening.

What drew this devoted following was the appearance of the film’s star, Dumfries actor Sam Heughan. Emulsion may have been his first film role, and his first lead, but he is shortly to be seen at the centre of multi-million dollar fantasy seriesOutlanderas dashing Jacobite Jamie Fraser.

Fans of US author Diana Galbadon’s books, the inspiration for the series, already seem to have given the handsome Scot their seal of approval, hence the much travelled audience, one with a heavy female bias and with several members wearing t-shirts with the words "Heughan’s Hooligans".

They are not the only ones that the amiable Heughan has impressed. Introducing the film, Singh revealed that Heughan had not auditioned for the lead role, but had made such an impact that Singh started considering him as a potential lead.

His faith in Heughan seems to have paid off in this psychological mystery that wears its film noir and David Lynch influences on its trenchcoated sleeve.

Sam Heughan as the enigmatic Ronny Maze.
Sam Heughan as the enigmatic Ronny Maze.

As Ronny Maze — a film noir name if ever I heard one — Heughan carries much of the burden of keeping the tale credible.

Appearing in almost every scene, he is always watchable as a man haunted by the disappearance of his wife — Spanish actress Claudia Bassols injecting some classic femme fatale glamour into the dowdy setting of an urban car park — but one with mysteries of his own.

Why does he wear the same ’50s style suit and trilby? Maze’s answer "because they are my clothes" does not quite cut it as an explanation.

Why is the "nice guy" prone to unexpected bouts of violence?

Why does he waatch the same film footage of himself and his wife over and over? And who took it?

Director Singh overcomes his tight budget with some stylish direction and a lovely colour palate that conjures up a surreal quality as Maze is shadowed by a near doppelganger, gangsters listen to angelic opera singers and a mysterious woman who watches the same film over and over again in the hope of a happier ending.

This step away from reality allows the film to get away with the solution to the mystery of the missing Mrs Maze.

In real life, that mystery could have been solved with a single phone call by the policemen Ronny pesters every week.

In Singh’s dream world we can just about buy it, though it does mean that a couple of red herrings planted in the plot earlier on go nowhere.

There is a final twist in the tale bringing the story full circle with a cruel touch that suggests the real reason why a character has buried their true identity.

Though entertaining enough — certainly much more entertaining than the name promises —Emulsion can perhaps be viewed as a full length showreel for both Heughan and Singh, marking them both out as talents to keep watching.

Though Heughan’s Hooligans are already keeping a close eye on Sam’s progress, that’s for sure.

CM


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