Cages is probably the most disappointing of the films I saw at this year’s Melbourne International Film Festival. That isn’t such a bad thing considering the astounding luck I’ve had this year. The action film Dog Bite Dog (Gau ngao gau) may have been astoundingly silly, but it did succeed in the violence department. Cages is an erotic thriller of sorts – though rather more subtle than we’ve come to expect – yet keeps drawing back from real tension in favour of something more wishy washy.
Unfortunately, this is as far as the film takes us. Whenever things started to get interesting, the characters pulled back. As regular readers will know, I’m always up for a good (even not so good) psychological thriller, and this film simply didn’t fulfil my expectations. As more of a thoughtful, dramatic piece it was lacking also, since I didn’t really like the protagonists enough. Early on Eve (Anne Coesens) was rather winsome, though as the film progressed she made some really strange decisions. As it stands, the film was weird enough to not work as a straight drama, and too wussy to really impress as a thriller.
The cinematography was beautiful, and ever since I saw the original Wicker Man the sight of a bunch of people in animal masks always sends a shiver down my spine. Coesens and Stévenin are a couple of talented stars who have the same earthy beauty, but all the prettiness in the world couldn’t save Cages from participating in too many compromises. I really wanted it to take a definite step in one direction, instead of a bunch of haltering half steps.