Borderline

This picture was filmed in Capetown, South Africa with expert talent and a script far superior to a lot of recent Hollywood thriller crap (like Bullock's MURDER BY NUMBERS, Spacey's DAVID GALE and any of those Ashley Judd potboilers she made with Morgan Freeman, to name a few). This is a nicely contrived murder mystery featuring a strong female lead and some intelligent supporting players; even the obligatory child factor was nicely handled in this particular case. It's an adult murder noir with some smart character interplay. Choice of it's kind.

I like this movie a lot. It doesn't have the most original plot in the world but what it does with it is dynamite. This reminds me a lot of those old movies they call "filmes noir" nowadays, the ones with the weary cynical cop, played by someone like Mark Stevens or William Lundigan or Dana Andrews who gets mixed up with the dangerous dame who may or may not be a killer. And there's the likable but menacing loony (William Bendix, Elisha Cook), is he the guilty one? This is a real whodunit, folks, & it had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. The three principals are terrific. Gershon is a pure pulp lusty female, right off the cover of an old Signet paperback. Michael Biehn has grizzled nicely since Terminator. Maybe he'll morph into today's Sterling Hayden. And Sean Patrick Flanery is fine as the charming psycho who evokes Michael J. Fox as Hannibal Lechter. It's a great-looking film, never static, with lots of dynamic camera work, great pace and good writing. A very professional and satisfying film. In a way it is what The Man Who Wasn't There should have been.

I'll let you know now, I've seen better thrillers. But "Borderline" is definitely worth the watch. I am a huge fan of the hot Sean Patrick Flannery(one of the world's most under rated actors), the beautiful Gina Gershan(again, very under rated), and the handsome Michael Biehn(he's a good actor; no comment). So, when I saw the cover to this movie, I was immediately excited to see such fine actors together. The story is about a woman who is fighting for custody of her two daughters and looses them to her ex-husband due to her jail-psychiatrist job that every in-mate admires her for. When her ex-husband and his fiancée' are murdered the night that she looses her children to him, things look suspicious obviously. She wanted her kids, she was still the one to take it all in her ex's will, and that she wanted him out of her and her kid's lives. Sean Patrick's role comes in as a former in-mate who is completely obsessed with Gina's character. He wants to be with her and her family, but Gina insists that he is the murderer of her ex and his fiancée'. Will Gina be proved innocent with the help of her supposed-to-be-not-because-they-work-together boyfriend, Michael Biehn, or will Sean slip up and confess his dark secrets? You'll just have to find out.

8/10

The psychiatrist Dr. Lila Colleti (Gina Gershon) is a woman with a trauma in her childhood that is divorcing her husband. She works in a penitentiary with disturbed prisoners that like her. Her ex-husband Paul Colleti (Nick Boraine) and she are disputing the custody of their two daughters in court, and Paul wins the dispute. Paul brings the daughters to his house and Lila becomes depressive and upset. She goes to a bar, where she meets the former prisoner and patient Ciro Ruiz (Jon Huertas), and uses drugs with alcohol, having a blackout. In the night, Paul and her girlfriend are murdered, and Lila becomes the prime suspect. Det. Macy Kobacek (Michael Biehn), who is her boyfriend, is in charge of the investigation with his partner Det. Frank Hagen (Eddie Driscoll), and Lila accuses her manipulative patient Ed Baikman (Sean Patrick Flanery) to her boyfriend. However, all the evidences are against Lila and Macy is not sure of who is the killer.

"Borderline" is an ambiguous low budget thriller with a story of manipulation that has flaws in the screenplay, but holds the attention of the viewer until the last scene. Unfortunately the conclusion is not clear and the director Evelyn Maude Purcell fails. It seems that her intention might be to keep the doubt of who is manipulating who, Ed Baikman or Dr. Lila Colleti. After watching for the second time, one possible interpretation is that Lila is so manipulative that has an affair with Macy to have someone to help her in the police department and manipulates Ed Baikman to make him the scapegoat of the murder. In the end, she stays alone with her daughters that was her prime objective. Doesn't it make sense? Last but not the least, the forty years old Gina Gershon is still a very sexy woman and is another attraction in this above-average film. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Distúrbio Mortal" ('Mortal Disturbance")

Note: On 16 February 2016 I saw this movie again.

A thriller is supposed to thrill, among other things. But the strongest emotions that "Borderline" manages to build in the viewer are confusion and an odd feeling. The odd feeling mainly comes with where the movie was shot. Although it's made clear that the story is taking place in California, you don't need to watch the closing credits to know that the movie was shot in a foreign country (South Africa, to be exact.) The buildings and scenery don't look quite right, especially since it's all mostly photographed in a manner that gives everything dull and dark colors. The real problems with the movie, however, are what I stated in my summary line. At the end of the movie, there are a number of plot threads that haven't been properly resolved, so it's hard to figure out who did exactly what and why. Even director Evelyn Maude Purcell was apparently bewildered by the twists and turns, because she doesn't manage to build up any tension or suspense. At best, the movie feels strictly routine. There's nothing here to grab an audience's attention, so I say avoid it. It's not the worst movie ever made, but oddly there are a lot of worse movies out there that are more interesting to watch than this movie.