THE OWNERS (2020)

A lot of the time my interest in a film is based on the actors in it more than anything else. I’m not talking about blockbusters here either, sometimes it is those weird little films that slip under the radar that have character actors who wouldn’t necessarily appear in a film of that type.

This film, The Owners, provided me with the thrill of two TV actors that I would never in a million years would have ever suspected appear in a film together: Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones, and former Doctor Who from the 1980s, Sylvester McCoy. (Ok, I guess they were both in Doctor Who but their appearances were about 30 years apart)

The Owners was directed by Julius Berg, who also co-wrote the script with Mathieu Gompel and Geoff Cox, and was based on the graphic novel, Une Nuit de Plene Lune by Hermann Huppen and Yves H.

The film takes place in the UK, where Mary (Williams) is frustrated as her boyfriend, Nathan (Ian Kenny) has not returned her car so she can get to work. She finds him with two of his mates, Terry (Andrew Ellis) and someone unknown to her, Gaz (Jake Curran) is her car, stoned, and casing the house of the town doctor, Richard Huggins (McCoy) and his wife, Ellen (Rita Tushingham)

They have been observing the house for a while and have the inclination to rob it as Terry’s mother, Jean (Stacia Hicks) told him casually that there was a big safe in the basement.

The boys break in and find the safe, leaving Mary outside waiting in the car, only to find that its an old safe that they don’t have the tools to

open, so the only answer is to wait for the elderly Doctor to return.

Mary gets frustrated after waiting for a while and is coaxed inside by Nathan, only to be horrified by their intentions, and when the couple do arrive home, things go from bad to worse as the Huggins’, tied to chairs in the basement, refuse to open the safe door…

I remember seeing From Dusk Til Dawn for the first time and being stunned by the sudden gear shift from crime movie to vampire movie and whilst the gear shift isn’t as sudden, it is a breath of fresh air in a world of superhero sequels, Star Wars expansions and remakes. Sure it does riff on a few other films which i wont mention here as they will give the story away slightly, but the performances really sell it.

McCoy and Tushingham are delightful as the old couple, and remain endearing through the course of their performances no matter what they do; Tushingham in particular is amazing with her tragic dementia patient. Williams and Kenny play the couple whose relationship dissolves before our eyes really well and Ellis’ Terry is as frustrating a coward as ever.

The real villain of the piece is Curran’s Gaz, whose performance is straight out of an early Guy Ritchie flick and is more as more unlikable as his character is revealed. Its been a while since Ive seen a film where I’ve actively disliked a character and Curran really nails the wannabe hard man in this.

This was one of those pleasant surprises that really made me happy to have taken a $19 chance on a film I know nothing about except for some of the cast. Fantastic. Get on it.

Disc: Surprising these days for a DVD in Australia, there actually is a couple of extras, even though its not much.

Behind the Scenes looks at the set up for some of the scenes in the film. It doesn’t go for very long and there isn’t any commentary on it but some of it is fascinating to see.

Interviews is a brief series of interviews with writer/ director Julius Berg, producers Alain De La Mata and Christopher Granier-Deferre, Maisie Williams, Sylvester McCoy, Rita Tushingham, Andrew Ellis, Jake Curran and Ian Kenny. Its just a fluff piece really but interesting to hear the cast and crews perspectives of the story.