Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Based on a Philip K. Dick story, writer-director George Nolfis romantic sci-fi thriller,Adjustment Bureau brings together an ambitious politician David Norris and modern ballet dancer Elise Sellas,of all the places in the gents washroom of a hotel. Elise is being chased by a few suited men as she has gate-crashed a wedding. But just as he realises that hes falling for her,mysterious men conspire to keep the two apart.
The duo is invariably tracked down by stern suited men in Fedora hats. David finds out about them when one,Harry,misses his cue and allows David to get on a bus,which gets him to his office too early,where he finds everyone frozen and a roomful of hatted men and others in masks scanning his best friends head. These men have the ability to open doors on one floor and emerge from another door on another floor. Ultimately to escape this alternate reality,Harry shows David the key to the door plan; and enables David and Elise to escape the men in the suits.
The sequence introducing David Matt Damon,an up-and-coming New York congressman running for Senate,in a montage of stock-shots of such congregations and David giving speeches dont hold. But Nolfi pulls the film together once he gets the love story going,with an exceptionally funny encounter in a hotel bathroom where David is practicing his speech before bumping into an impetuous but charming wedding-crasher,Elise Emily Blunt,clutching a bottle of champagne. Both in their initial encounter and a lengthy scene later on a bus,David and Elise share a genuinely warm attraction. Both Matt Damon and Emily Blunt are wonderfully in character. So is Terence Stamp as the Big Brother figure.
Special effects are used discriminately,especially the nifty hand-held electronic maps and beyond the doors. Otherwise,Adjustment Bureau is all human heart,capped by a beautiful top-of-the-world climax atop the Statue of Liberty.
Its alternate reality with a dash of romance.
RATING:
One each for scripting,direction and performances.
