The Messenger

The dead have come calling for Jack, a troubled loner in touch with the ‘other side’ or so it would seem. Robert Sheehan delivers a mesmerising performance as the misunderstood young soul at loggerheads with those around him – and vice versa!

Set in the North of England, Jack (Robert Sheehan) rambles through urban streets and country lanes, cutting a rather dishevelled figure possibly in need of a good wash. Jack is a truly tortured individual who seems to have the rare gift of seeing and communicating with the dead. As if that weren’t trouble enough, the dead seem to seek for him as well – to give him advise, to share their stories of life and death, but above all, begging Jack to finish unfinished business for them! No matter what Jack tries (in fact he doesn’t even try anymore) the dead won’t leave him alone. Just having failed to save the life of a suicidal candidate from the fatal jump, Jack sits in a local pub and contemplates the pros and contras of his unusual ‘talent’ – or perhaps the witty lad simply soliloquises… Of course, even his well-deserved pint cannot be enjoyed without interruptions… The barman promptly shows our anti-hero the exit route with a warning not to come back.

In flashbacks, we gradually find out about Jack’s childhood and how he came to develop his sixth sense, though at the same time it is a sense he may have been born with. With a dysfunctional childhood and a now grown up sister (Lily Cole as ‘Emma’) who happens to worry about him but equally fails to grasp his complex persona, it’s little wonder that Jack refuses to be ‘quite with it’ or rather, ‘being part’ of a world that shows so little understanding for him. When Emma moves back with hubby and young son, her brother is invited over - though it quickly becomes apparent that Emma’s husband merely tolerates the strange young man and is altogether a bit of a rat. Mind you, a mega surprise is in store when Jack realises his little nephew can ‘see and communicate’ as well. Move over, Haley Joel Osment!

In between sessions with his psychiatrist (Joely Richardson), a busy bee of a doctor who refuses to believe in irrational phenomena, and further encounters with ghosts Jack is about to witness the one incident that not only will push him to the very edge but unravel secrets as dark as the night. When journalist Mark (Jack Fox) is attacked and murdered in a local park, his ghost returns and asks Jack (yes, him again) for help… and to act as ‘messenger’ to let Jack’s beloved wife Sarah (Tamzin Merchant) know he loves her and will always watch over her. How did you guess that in a film where nothing is as it seems Jack’s mission turns out to be more than just on the tricky side? We’re talking murder, possible conspiracy, a young widow whose love is tainted, and an increasingly fragile Jack who struggles to keep emotions and vitriolic tempers at bay.

If all this sounds rather heavy-handed fear not, there’s a generous dose of sarcastic humour throughout – for example when Jack moans that he can’t even shake off the ghost of Gandhi (who tries to convert him to vegetarianism). Another funny moment, alas no doubt un-intentional is when Lily Cole’s character cooks up a rich fat spag-bol meal for her family. One can’t help being bemused ‘bout the sight of über-slim Lily piling heaps of pasta on her plate!

David Blair has deftly handled the direction here and managed to bring out truly intense as well as fragile performances from all the cast, in particular THE TUDORS’ Tamzin Merchant as Sarah, the guilt-ridden young widow who has done wrong and finds herself confronted by her own demons. Of course, this really is Robert Sheehan’s film and he holds this occasionally slow-paced psychological drama effortless together thanks to his richly textured performance.

THE MESSENGER is most certainly not a supernatural thriller with plenty of action, far from it. Au contraire, it works perfect because of the carefully applied subtlety. The multi-layered story invites us to question our own sense of the rational and the irrational, and our willingness (or unwillingness) to look ‘beyond’.

(Please read my interview with actor Robert Sheehan on the Film-News site).