Title: I Know You Know
Starring: Robert Carlyle, Arron Fuller, David Bradley
Directed By: Justin Kerrigan
UK Cinema Release Date: 9th April 2010
Certificate: 15
I’ve never really been a fan of Robert Carlyle. He’s a good actor. I’m just not keen on him. He always seems to be a bit rough, in both his looks and his film roles. Can I say that in a film review? Sorry Robert I don’t mean it. It was a question anyway not a statement so it’ll never hold up in court as libel. Be fair though he looks pretty good for a guy knocking on the door of 50 years of age doesn’t he? And in all seriousness Carlyle is a good actor. He’s just never really had much of a shot at the big time though has he? His biggest claim to fame must be Trainspotting or more recently maybe 28 Weeks Later – which still wasn’t a patch on the original with Cillian Murphy.
I Know You Know is written and directed by Justin Kerrigan (Human Traffic) and is a story about a young boy who suspects his dad might be working undercover for MI6. It’s got a bit of originality about it, I’ll say that.
Carlyle produces a good performance and Arron Fuller as his son also does well, especially considering there are scenes including bullying which couldn’t have been easy to act. The direction is acceptable enough and although it’s lacking the flashiness of Kerrigan’s earlier work on the aforementioned Human Traffic, he still has a tough of edginess about him that shows through in his work. That said; where has Kerrigan been for so long? It’s over a decade since he wrote and directed Human Traffic (his debut feature) which turned out to be a bit of an Indie sleeper hit and then bam! he’s gone for ten years before reappearing with this. Has he been happily living off the profits all this time, or has it taken him a decade to write I Know You Know?
All in all the film is definitely worth watching, it works well, better than you might at first imagine it would in fact.
