Natural Enemy is a thriller starring Donald Sutherland which dates back twenty-five years. I knew nothing about the film, but Sutherland is always good value, and so I gave it a go. I was glad I did, since it's entertaining story that doesn't outstay its welcome. After watching, I discovered that it's a Canadian made for TV film, but it is of a higher standard than many made-for-telly movies, despite the fact that Kevin Bernhardt's script does have a few shortcomings.
We're thrown into the action right away. Ted (Sutherland) is a financial trader who has a good-looking young right-hand man called Jeremy (William McNamara). From the start it seems that Jeremy is slightly strange and over-the-top and it soon emerges that he has violent tendencies. Ted unwisely invites the young man to stay at his family home while he sorts out a few problems in his personal life. At first Jeremy demurs, but he changes his mind, and turns up with a girlfriend in tow: she is older, and married to someone else.
Ted lives with his glamorous second wife Sandy (Lesley Ann Warren) and his son from his first marriage, Chris (Christian Tessier). Sandy is pregnant, and the family is a happy one. However, Jeremy soon proves to be a disruptive influence and his behaviour towards his girlfriend is sadistic. It's pretty evident that there is something very wrong with him, and Ted's extreme naivete where Jeremy is concerned is one of the flaws in the story.
Nonetheless, as events spiral towards a terrible climax, the cast handle the material with plenty of verve. It's easy to dismiss films such as this as hokum, but the quality of the acting, in particular from Sutherland and Warren, and the pace of the story meant that I was happy to suspend my disbelief.
I am also a fan of Donald Sutherland, who still plays brilliant and deceptively complex roles. Check out another TV drama he made the year before, Citizen X. This tells the true story of Russia's first recognised serial killer, who murdered 53 women and children, and the hunt for him. The story of Andrei Chikatilo is told in Robert Cullen's book The Killer Department, and the film is based on this book, especially on the story arc of the detective who pursued him for years, and how justice and society in Russia changed over those years. Jeffrey DeMunn (chillingly) plays the murderer, Stephen Rea the dogged detective, Donald Sutherland his clever, complex and ambivalent boss. This award winning film is not an easy watch, but compelling and unforgettable, with terrific performances all round, not least the brilliant Max Von Sydow as the psychologist who finally cracked the killer into confession.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Liz. I don't know that one, but it sounds interesting and I will indeed check it out.
ReplyDelete