Young Adam

Name: Young Adam
Genre: Drama, Thriller, Crime
Released: April 16, 2004
Duration: 98 min
Rating: 67
Cast: Emily Mortimer, Ewan McGregor, Peter Mullan, Tilda Swinton

2004

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 32 Critics

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 19 Ratings

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6.7

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6.7	Your Score
6.7	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 19 Ratings

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Young Adam

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Movie Details & Credits

Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: April 16, 2004

Starring: Emily Mortimer, Ewan McGregor, Peter Mullan, Tilda Swinton

Summary: Based on Scottish beat writer Alexander Trocchi's novel and inspired by the great Hollywood film noirs of the 40s and 50s, Young Adam is a highly original thriller set on the canals between Glasgow and Edinburgh. (HanWay Films)

Director: David Mackenzie

Genre(s): Drama, Thriller, Crime

Rating: NC-17

Runtime: 98 min

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Awards & Rankings

77	#77 Most Shared Movie of 2004

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

Entertainment Weekly - Lisa Schwarzbaum

The clammy power of Young Adam lies as much in the frank, emotional nakedness the actors bring to their roles under Mackenzie's care as in the baroque hopelessness of the plot. Read full review

Variety - Derek Elley

All of the promise that was evident in Scottish helmer David Mackenzie's flawed freshman feature, "The Last Great Wilderness" (2002), is richly achieved in his second pic, Young Adam, a resonant, beautifully modulated relationships drama. Read full review

Austin Chronicle - Marrit Ingman

The film is set in post-WWII Scotland, but its tone and its telling are so stark, so Medieval, that it seems anachronistic when one of its characters picks up a telephone or plays a bebop jazz record. Read full review

Miami Herald - Connie Ogle

Not so much a thriller as an exploration of one man's crumbling moral compass. Read full review

Los Angeles Times - Manohla Dargis

Mackenzie has greatly tempered the story's brutality the old-fashioned way: He puts an appealing, sympathetic star at the center and surrounds him with beautiful visuals, with a darkly contrasting color palette of bruising black and blue. Read full review

The New York Times - Dana Stevens

The narrative scheme, the brooding period atmosphere, the understated score (by David Byrne) and the precision of the acting also make the story seem more interesting than it is. Read full review

Wall Street Journal - Joe Morgenstern

Suffers from a lifelessness that seems built into the terse, slightly detached style of the director, David Mackenzie, who also did the adaptation.

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User Reviews

MattA.

Sep 26, 2005

This is one of those films that you respect and admire more than you actually like it. I would not recommend this movie to 90% of the people that I know, and I wouldn't want to watch this movie again. Why? First of all, Ewan's penis shot. Second, it is depressing and Ewan's This is one of those films that you respect and admire more than you actually like it. I would not recommend this movie to 90% of the people that I know, and I wouldn't want to watch this movie again. Why? First of all, Ewan's penis shot. Second, it is depressing and Ewan's character is a bastard. But, the film is actually so memorable and well-done because of Ewan's performance. It is probably his finest work to date, and for that reason (along with teaching a good lesson not to sleep around), the film works.… Expand

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PilarJ.

Aug 27, 2005

The film doesn't have argument. Everything could be counted in two lines. A boredom.

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