The depressed and needy designer Robert Forrester (Paddy Considine) has just moved from New York to work in the Lavigne Aeronautics in a small town. Robert is under pressure and stalking Jenny Thierolf (Julia Stiles), sneaking around the woods every night to see the happiness of the young woman that lives alone in an isolated house. Robert is divorcing from his manipulative and cynical wife Nickie Grace (Caroline Dhavernas)in New York and is not interested in another relationship at that moment. When Jenny sees Robert snooping her, he introduces himself and she surprisingly invites him to talk to her and drink a coffee. When Jenny's boyfriend Greg Wyncoop (James Gilbert) proposes her, she realizes that she does not love him and breaks up with Greg. Then Jenny falls in love with Robert and pursues him everywhere; however Robert does not want to commit with her. Robert is loathed by Greg's friends and one day, Greg forces Robert's car off the road and attacks Robert, but Robert hits him in self-defense and leaves Greg unconscious nearby a river. When Greg goes missing, Robert becomes the prime-suspect of the police. He loses his promotion; he is suspended from his job; his friend Jack Neilson (Gord Rand) leaves him; his landlord asks his house back; and Jenny commits suicide. When Robert is shot on the street, he is sure that the responsible is Greg, but nobody believes in his words.

"The Cry of the Owl" is a melancholic thriller based on a novel of Patricia Highsmith and a remake of a Claude Chabrol's film of 1987 that unfortunately I have not had the chance to see yet. The story is engaging and sad and the performances are top-notch. The beauty of Caroline Dhavernas' eyes and face is impressive and her character Nickie Grace is a real bitch. The jinx of Robert Forrester is credible despite some stupid attitudes. The conclusion is open to interpretations and I Intend to compare with Chabrol's film. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Vôo da Coruja" ("The Flight of the Owl")

Saw this movie on TV the other day and was really impressed with it. I'm becoming a Paddy Considine fan after seeing some of his other movies and I was not let down by his performance in this. He portrays Robert Forster, a quiet and melancholy man sneaking a peek (quite literally) into a world in which he sees some peace, happiness and a lil escape from his otherwise tortured existence. Julia Stiles, which I had seen but was more familiar with her teen movie career was very surprising. Not only because I hadn't seen her in anything for a while but seeing her in something like this was not what I had expected. Her performance was great and had me convinced that she was in fact as mysterious (and possibly unbalanced) as Forster. This film was well directed, well acted and had a pace that had me interested and wondering what was going to happen next. It had the feel of a Hitchcock film and is a top notch thriller in my book. Some may not have the patience for a film like this because it's not riddled with action or CGI but there's a good story in there, and I'll take a movie with a story to tell any day.

"The Cry of the Owl" is a 2009 Canadian psychological-drama with thriller elements based on the Patricia Highsmith novel. The story revolves around Robert Forrester (Paddy Considine) who has a great job, but is in the process of a divorce and has recently moved out of the big city. He becomes intrigued by a random girl he spots at a country house and secretly gazes at her from the woods at night. A relationship eventually develops and the girl, Jenny (Julia Stiles), starts overly-monitoring him and he begins to regret the relationship. Meanwhile, Jenny's ex (James Gilbert) isn't happy about the situation and neither is Robert's ex (Caroline Dhavernas). The situation soon spirals out of control.

The story is fairly engaging and the actors are effective, particularly Considine as the protagonist, but the ending is ambiguous and left to interpretation. Regardless, the themes are intriguing: romanticism vs. logic, fate and fatalism vs. chance encounter, omens and signs vs. random happenings and the irony of role reversal or reaping what you sow.

It's not great and it's too pessimistic -- probably because it's really a tragedy -- but it's a solid psycho-drama with intriguing ideas that'll leave you pondering or scratching your head. The latter is why many people don't like it.

The film runs 100 minutes and was shot in Ontario.

GRADE: B