一场车祸以后,一个年轻的放纵女孩,一个先天智障的单亲家庭长大的可怜男孩,他们之间发生的一系列让人哭笑不得的搞笑事件。一出场便是漂染一头飞扬跋扈的小黄头,耳洞多到数不清,走路的姿势告诉别人最好离着三丈远,骨子里处处彰显叛逆少女的不羁……
巫师梅林(尼科尔·威廉森 Nicol Williamson 饰)赐予了亚瑟王(尼吉尔·特瑞 Nigel Terry 饰)一把充满了魔力的神剑,在临终之前,亚瑟王将这把神剑插入了巨石之中,他立下遗嘱,若是有谁能够将神剑从石头中拔出,便可以获得成为英国国王的资格。 一晃眼数年过去,亚瑟王的私生子站在了巨石面前,顺理成章的拔出了神剑继承了王位,成为了新一代的亚瑟王。之后,他迎娶了名为昆妮弗(切瑞·朗西 Cherie Lunghi 饰)的女子为妻,并且创立了圆桌骑士组织,开创了历史上最辉煌的时代。然而 好景不长,昆妮弗爱上了圆桌骑士兰斯洛特(尼古拉斯·克莱 Nicholas Clay 饰),与此同时,家族中爆发的丑闻领国王的统治岌岌可危。
疲惫的列车工作人员乔(爱德华·斯皮伊尔斯 Ed Speleers 饰)刚刚完成漫长的旅途,他和同事完成交接工作,回到更衣室发现之前晋升主管的申请被驳回,分外懊恼之际又被新主管命令代班踏上了连夜开往东伯勒的列车。列车缓缓启动,乔无精打采地播报行驶信息,随后开始了例行查票工作。或许这枯燥的旅途中,只有那美丽的乘务员艾伦(荷莉·韦斯顿 Holly Weston 饰)还让他多少有点儿动力。暂时放下手头工作后,乔找个安静的角落沉沉睡去,突然他被巨大的晃动所警醒。不知什么原因,火车在某个山坡上迫停。司机托尼下车检查,谁知却遭到神秘生物的攻击。 冷雨寒夜,荒郊野岭。仿佛与世隔绝的黑暗所在,迫停的列车上登上可怕的乘客……
Fraught with over obvious symbolism, Hartley's early feature is nonetheless a joy to watch. Hal here shows us his uncanny ability to cast his characters perfectly came early in his career. Adrienne Shelley is a near perfect foil to herself, equal parts annoying teen burgeoning in her sexuality (though using sex for several years); obsessed with doom and inspired by idealism gone wrong she is deceptively – and simultaneously – complex and simple. Her Audrey inspires so many levels of symbolism it is almost embarrassingly rich (e.g., her modeling career beginning with photos of her foot – culminating her doing nude (but unseen) work; Manhattan move; Europe trip; her stealing, then sleeping with the mechanics wrench, etc.) As Josh, Robert Burke gives an absolutely masterful performance. A reformed prisoner/penitent he returns to his home town to face down past demons, accept his lot and begin a new life. Dressed in black, and repeatedly mistaken for a priest, he corrects everyone ("I'm a mechanic"), yet the symbolism is rich: he abstains from alcohol, he practices celibacy (is, in fact a virgin), and seemingly has taken on vows of poverty, and humility as well. The humility seems hardest to swallow seeming, at times, almost false, a pretense. Yet, as we learn more of Josh we see genuineness in his modesty, that his humility is indeed earnest and believable. What seems ironic is the character is fairly forthright in his simplicity, yet so richly drawn it becomes the viewer who wants to make him out as more than what he actually is. A fascinatingly written character, perfectly played. The scene between Josh and Jane (a wonderful, young Edie Falco . . . "You need a woman not a girl") is hilarious . . . real. But Hartley can't leave it as such and his trick, having the actors repeat the dialogue over-and-over becomes frustratingly "arty" and annoying . . . until again it becomes hilarious. What a terrific sense of bizarre reality this lends the film (like kids in a perpetual "am not"/"are too" argument). Hartley's weaves all of a small neighborhood's idiosyncrasies into a tapestry of seeming stereotypes but which delves far beneath the surface, the catalyst being that everyone believes they know what the "unbelievable truth" of the title is, yet no two people can agree (including our hero) on what exactly that truth is. A wonderful little movie with some big ideas.