The mysterious atrocities of Jack the Ripper, the famous London murderer, fundamentally changing the idea of crime, whose identity has not been ascertained for certain, excites the minds of each new generation. The unsolved mystery of the terrible chronicle inspires susceptible people of art. Here is the work of the British writer Peter Ackroyd “Dan Leno and the Golem from Limehouse” is uniquely inspired by a series of tragedies of 1888, when five bloody murders were attributed to one nameless maniac.
The literary source describes the same time period and place of incidents, but the addiction of the killer to extract organs from the bodies by the novelist is presented in the form of a curious “variation on the subject”. It was she who became interested in English filmmakers, presenting their version in the tape "Golem".
Reviews of the film, written by film experts, once again indicate the freedom to adapt the name of the picture in the national box office. The original version is called the Golem from Limehouse. But taking into account the fact that few compatriots know about the East London district of Limehouse, in the reviews of the movie Golem, every second author justifies the abbreviation of the name. But it encourages the viewer to carry out a false logical chain, to recall the character of Jewish mythology.
Tape creators
The project was directed by Juan Carlos Medina, who honed his copyright techniques at Insensitive (2012). The director went on a bold genre experiment, as a result of which the genre of the picture cannot be uniquely determined. Reviews of the movie The Golem indicate that the tape skids between a detective, a drama, a thriller, historical retrospective, Victorian Gothic and a slasher, periodically likened to thrash.
The script is based on the work of Aykroyd, known in the Russian Federation as the “Elizabeth Cree Process”, published more than twenty years ago. The release date of the original source, according to individual reviewers, already indicates that the picture is outdated, despite the certain relevance of the plot topics. The fact is that the screenwriter Jane Goldman became interested in the novel long before the start of her creative career. For many years, she wanted to take part in the film adaptation of the work. Jane met with the author and the writer, surprised by the attention of the artisans to his opus, agreed to give the rights to production for free.
Expert review
“Limehouse Golem” movie reviews published by film critics positioned as a Gothic thriller. They note that the project is at the same time frankly secondary and curious about its theme - it all depends on the personal interest of the person who is watching this era, genre and involved artists. At the same time, many reviewers, trying to impartially approach the work of Juan Carlos Medina with the standards of spectator cinema, report that the picture does not deserve special attention. And it's not even that the tape is a variation on the theme, and not a direct appeal to the Jack the Ripper secret. It’s just shot apathetically, without a twinkle and even somehow doomed. And all this in the presence of interesting characters and actors. Despite similar reviews of the film, Golem has an IMDb rating of 6.30.
Plot
Events unfold eight years before a series of horrific crimes of Jack the Ripper in 1880 in Victorian London, in which a series of murders takes place, seemingly unrelated. Maniac gets the nickname Golem for killing a Jew. Inspector Kildare (Bill Nyei) was appointed to investigate the crimes, whose career development leaves much to be desired. In an attempt to understand the motivation of the attacker, the investigator stumbles upon the case of the music hall accused of killing her husband John (S. Reed) Elizabeth Cree (Olivia Cook). Her late husband, along with philosopher-sociologist Karl Marx (G. Goodman), actor Dan Leno (D. Booth) and novelist George Gissing (M. Watknis) was suspected of committing atrocities attributed to the Golem. Little by little, the inspector, with the help of Elizabeth, begins to spin a tangle of interconnected incidents, imbued with sympathy for the accused widow.
On the verge of reality and fiction
Reviews of the movie “Golem” (2016), written by viewers, are more gentle. Ordinary people tend to perceive the work of Juan Carlos Medina as a cultural movie, moderately intriguing and colorful, his narrative is built on a mixture of reasonable doses of real facts and author's fiction. The picture has absolutely all the components for which some do not like, while others admire the Victorian culture. The bold directorial move with the introduction of key personalities in the history of mankind seems funny to the viewer. There is a certain irony in this when a comedian, a humanist writer and a theorist of communism are mentioned among the suspects. In addition, there is no irony, let alone humor in the film. The creators paid special attention to demonstrations of violence.
Character Chemistry
Not too flattering to assess the skill of the performers of criticism in the reviews of the movie "Golem". Of course, no one claims Bill Nyei. His every appearance in the frame is a decoration of the tape. But Olivia Cook, who played the role of Elizabeth, is not particularly impressive, especially in the first half of the film. Douglas Booth, who embodied the image of Dan Lino, earned praise. The gallery of secondary characters does not allow you to select a separate artist, which will certainly be remembered by the viewer. According to reviews of the movie Golem (2016), actors in episodic and secondary roles are like faceless shadows.
Verdict
In general, the picture is praised for its detective intrigue, because the investigation repeatedly goes the wrong way, and at the climax, the detective is faced with a difficult moral dilemma. But unfortunately, a similar technique has been used by filmmakers many times. Moreover, the riddle turned out to be ridiculously simple, you just had to verify the handwriting.