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Fugitive Pieces

This puzzle doesn't quite come together

By Geoff Berkshire

Metromix
May 1, 2008

Critic's Rating:

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As a child, Jakob Beer (Robbie Kay) escapes from the horrors of the Holocaust thanks to a Greek archaeologist (Rade Sherbedgia) who smuggles him out of Poland and hides him from the Nazis. But as an adult, Jakob (Stephen Dillane) lives with survivor’s guilt that keeps him from happiness and threatens his relationships with women (including Rosamund Pike and Ayelet Zurer).

Big question: How successfully does Jeremy Podeswa (a prolific helmer of quality cable series like “Six Feet Under” and “Dexter”) adapt poet Anne Michaels’ novel?

Skip it: Michaels’ book was lauded for its prose-poetry style, rich in metaphor but low on narrative incident, making it a tricky property to adapt to film. Indeed, Podeswa’s film proves that the emotionally distant Jakob is exactly the kind of protagonist who works better on the page than on the screen, leaving both Kay and Dillane with little of interest to do. Although all the performances are adequate, the supporting players don’t make much impact either, with the exception of…

Catch it: Zurer, recently cast in “Da Vinci Code” sequel “Angels & Demons,” brightens things considerably with her character’s late entrance into the story, helping the film to pull itself together and finish strong. But it’s still too little, too late to rescue the picture overall.

Bottom line: Arriving day and date with the summer movie season kickoff, “Fugitive Pieces” could have represented the serious adult alternative to the season’s cartoon and comicbook adaptations…if it was a better film. Instead the best approach to the movie is to stay home with the celebrated novel on which it’s based.

Bonus: A significant amount of “Fugitive Places” takes place in Toronto, where both Podeswa and Michaels hail from. That no doubt helped the film land an opening night slot at last year’s Toronto film festival.