The Cut
3.0 out of 5.0 stars
The move to Hollywood, or English-language filmmaking isn’t always easy, to which Michaël R. Roskam’s The Drop can testify. But despite a vaguely indie feel – with Tahar Rahim at the helm as a mute Armenian travelling the world in the first quarter of the 20th century to find his daughters – Fatih Akin’s The Cut has all the finesse and subtlety of a Hollywood blockbuster. It juggles various themes – such as the persecution of minorities and the contemporary crisis in Syria, as well as father-daughter relations, film and faith, but in the end it’s another Via Dolorosa film as one man suffers pain, starvation, grief and murder as he tries to find his family. Nowhere near the emotional intensity of Head On or The Edge Of Heaven, Akin’s The Cut, like its mute lead, fails really to say anything.
The Cut is showing on Oct 10th & 12th at the 58th BFI London Film Festival
