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Puritan

4/10

Stars: Nick Moran, Georgina Rylance, David Soul

Director: Hadi Hajaig

Jobless and near-alcoholic, (fake) psychic Simon Puritan (a robotic Moran) is visited by a disfigured man, who aks Puritan to have a session with his wife Anne (Rylance, a poor man's Kristin Scott Thomas), who proves actually to be the wife of shady magnate and self-help guru Eric (Soul).

So who is the disfigured man? The answer, apparently, lies in the fourth dimension, in this incomprehensible combination of the noir and the supernatural that understandably sat on the shelf for two years before release.

Although darkly lit, the film's plotline might have been quite intriguing - if it made any sense at all. Lots of red splashes on sombre backgrounds indicate the director's debt to Roger Corman's Edgar Allan Poe films, but medals will be awarded after the movie to anyone understanding anything of the last 10 minutes.

Director Hajaig also seems obsessed with shooting from bizarre angles, which presumably serves to underline Puritan's alienation and isolation, but may have the same effect on the audience.

David Quinlan

UK 2004. UK Distributor: Parliament Films. Colour by Colour Film Services.
92 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: 12A.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 0, Swearing 1.

Review date: 05 Nov 2006