SOME of the best ideas are the simplest ones, and
that has proved to be a winning equation with The
Crooked Mile, which has won acclaim from both film
critics and audiences alike.
Nowhere was the film more well received than at the
Jersey Arts Centre, where, as part of the
International Arts Festival in September 2001, it
premiered in the Island where it was made to two
packed houses. The Crooked Mile made the most of
Jersey’s natural scenery, and has helped to make the
Island a focal point for other film crews and
production companies since it was filmed so
successfully in Jersey.
The
touching storyline centres on Anna, a nine year old
girl, determined to find her father, but the only
clue she has of him is a picture that her mother
keeps pinned to the wall. When Anna’s mother falls
ill, Anna is given a chance to discover more about
her identity, which has been hidden from her.
What Anna doesn’t know is that the handsome chap who
accompanies them from home to home is the film star
James Dean, not her father, who just isn’t around
anymore. But Anna, armed with the innocence of
childhood, coupled with a desire for adventure, sets
off with her beloved goldfish Jaws, and an unlikely
companion in the shape of her neighbour, Elliott, to
discover her father’s wheareabouts.
On
screen, the two make an unlikely but charismatic
duo, and Elliott proves to be a companion and
strength for Anna when she learns the hard lesson
that sometimes getting what you want isn’t always
what you hoped it might be, or lead you to a better
life than the one you have.
Anna finds out who James Dean really is from a bored
waitress working in a Fifties-inspired café, and
finds that her real father has none of glamour
associated with the film star. What he does have is
a marriage, a pampered young son and absolutely no
desire to make Anna a part of his life.
It
is a wiser Anna, and a thoughtful Elliott who make
their way back to where they really belong, but not
before they have met a few comical characters along
the way.
Louise V
Nibbs |