David Mackenzie, a director who previously demonstrated considerable talent with noteworthy films like THE LAST GREAT WILDERNESS and YOUNG ADAM, seemed to lose his way for a bit with an unsuccessful adaptation of Patrick McGrath's novel Asylum. However, he’s now back on course. Seventeen-year-old Hallam Foe (Jamie Bell) is skilled at picking locks and looking in through windows, but still struggling with the loss of his mother, who drowned herself in the loch on their large family property. His father has remarried his former secretary, Verity (Claire Forlani), a woman Hallam openly dislikes. After his sister Lucy (Lucy Holt) moves to Australia, Hallam retreats to a tree house where he spends considerable time gazing at a blow-up photograph of his mother and wondering if Verity might have been involved in her death. When Verity discovers Hallam’s private notebooks—which detail both his spying on the village and his own conflicted feelings toward her—he has an outburst, accusing her of murder and attempting to choke her. They then engage in a sexual encounter on the tree-house floor. Deciding it's time to leave home, Hallam goes to Edinburgh where he encounters Kate (Sophia Myles), who looks remarkably like his mother. He becomes infatuated with her and follows her to the Balmoral Hotel, where she works, eventually securing a job as a kitchen porter just to be close to her. After work, he trails her home and finds that he can see into her bedroom window from the hotel’s clock tower. He establishes himself there, observing Kate during her most intimate moments as his feelings for her deepen. Adapted from Peter Jinks' cult novel Hallam Foe, Mackenzie’s film manages to be both appealing and unsettling; it is undeniable that Hallam has some significant issues, particularly a troubling compulsion to spy on others. Instead of glossing over what makes this unusual character so interesting, Mackenzie presents him as he is, and Giles Nuttgens (who also worked on ASYLUM, YOUNG ADAM, and Deepa Mehta’s WATER) captures it all with great skill. Bell delivers an excellent performance, the locations are visually striking, and the soundtrack includes music from Franz Ferdinand, Orange Juice, and The Pastels.

Source on TMDB