I Know You Know, directed by Justin Kerrigan (United Kingdom, 2008) 81 min.

Review by Michael Ricciardi

[note: This film is making its NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE at SIFF 2009]

The implied circumstances that set the film in motion, seem plausible enough: We learn, through a grown up son’s initial narration, that dad is a spy covering as a “travel agent”...the time is 1988, but Charlie (Carlyle) looks more like an older Johnny Depp in Blow (1970’s chops, hair and leather leisure coat), than James Bond...But, he’s stylish, and his manner cautious but confident, as he returns from some unknown mission to see his 11 year old son, who was left with the boy’s aging Aunt and Uncle. He picks up the boy, and, with a few small “errands” to do before they return home (a small, shabby apartment), we are shown some of Charlie’s secretive associates and contacts, a car exchange (a fancy sports car for an older, unpainted one), a hidden gun, and the claim of 2 million quid due him (after one last, quick mission), promising his boy with a smile and a twinkle in his eye. All these scenes tend to establish and reinforce the basic premise as we believe it to be.

The film broadens after this a bit, giving us a deeper view of their relationship (there is no mother present--presumed dead--and the boy worships his dad)...the boy must attend a new school and contend with a bully. His dad gives him some fighting lessons, but more so, he gives the boy lessons in bully psychology, as if he knows this type all too well....lessons which the boy uses to ultimately stand up and fight back.

Throughout, there is little fighting or emotional disruption between the two. The father and boy like each other, enjoy each other’s company, more than anything else. The father and son have a relationship that, at times, seems more like one between two adults.

The boy dreams of going to America (he wears US flag patches and sports emblems o his jacket), and his dad promises him that once the payment is made, they’ll move to the US (eliciting no little joy as if it were the valley of Shangri-La). At one point the boy overhears his dad talking to his boss, speaking in dire terms about his own uncertain future, and his great concern for his boy. Jamie slowly grows concerned the way any boy would for his father under these apparent circumstances...and we the audience are touched by the father’s clear love for his boy...and yet, shortly after this semi-revealing scene, the father pulls his sound into the very midst of the mission (having him conduct a nighttime “drop off”), and presumably putting him at risk. They meet up later at a plain hotel until they receive word that all has gone according to plan. All that remains for the dad to do is meet with the boss to get his due payment.

But at this point things start to go wrong for the dad...sitting with his boy in a bar, waiting for the money delivery, the father consumes a great deal of alcohol and his repressed anger slips out through the cool, confident exterior...It is the boy who then has to stop his dad from starting a fight (earlier hints of a kid-older-than-his-years resurfaces)..and gradually, we begin to ask questions, to doubt what we thought we knew, as we, and the boy, have growing concerns about Charlie, and begin to see the whole picture (and “re-contextualize” the earlier scenes)...a picture as complex as any putative spy thriller, but also far more mundane, and tragic.

Robert Carlyle, as Charlie, has some major screen presence...You may recall, Carlyle’s hyper-violent, uber-out-of-control “friend” role in Trainspotting...Here he shows us a more sensitive and sympathetic side...yet he is no less riveting. Jamie, the boy (played by Arron Fuller) is remarkably effective (and one senses a future DiCaprio here).

Smartly, cleanly written and directed by Justin Kerrigan, this film is in fact, largely an autobiographical one (and emotional tribute to his dad). There are a few seeming flaws (such as the initial use of voice over narration, then its complete vanishing; how the dad regains the gun we see him lock in a trunk of the sports car, and, the ambiguous settings and conversations with his early contacts)...But, as I reflected on these, one sees that each scene was indeed carefully constructed to create the impressions necessary to propel the story (and preserve the “reveal” of the film, which doesn’t change what we saw, just what we “know”)....In general, I tend to feel a bit manipulated (and thus annoyed, put off) by this contrivance when it happens in other films. But regarding I Know You Know, I am willing to forgive this over-used cinematic device, largely because the film has a big heart, sympathetic characters, and is dealing, at its core, with an issue that affects a great many peoples’ lives.

Oh, and did I mention a riveting performance by Robert Carlyle?