A sex scandal to beat Profumo: It's hard to keep up with this story of Swedish corruption, but you'll be glad you did

By Chris Tookey

PUBLISHED: 16:15 EST, 15 August 2013 | UPDATED: 16:40 EST, 15 August 2013

Call Girl (18)

Verdict: Good, but hard to track down

Rating:

You’ll be hard-pressed to find this Swedish film in your local cinema, but it’s the only ambitious, high-quality release of the week. 

This tremendous debut by Mikael Marcimain tells the true story of a 1976 sex scandal that threatened the Swedish political system.

One to watch: Call Girl is the most worthwhile film released this week. It makes an audience work, but in all the right ways

It’s like Britain’s Profumo affair but much sleazier and with more to say about the corruption of ideals.

The Swedish government was a Social Democrat one, and the film has a beady eye for the Left-wing cant that accompanied the underhand actions.

There are even interesting echoes of the Blair era and of the recent Jimmy Savile and Catholic Church allegations.

But even at 140 minutes, the film seems rushed, and might have been better as a mini-series.

Intrigue: Sofia Karemyr (right) gives an engaging performance in this tale of political corruption

The decision to tell the tale from two points of view — a seemingly tough 15-year-old girl (Sofia Karemyr) who is recruited as a prostitute, and an honest cop (Simon J. Berger) who uncovers the truth — is hard to follow at first.

But it comes good in the final hour as the pair become aware of each other’s existence. 

The air of menace becomes palpable, and the film is a reminder of a kind of paranoid thriller that is not being made today.

During the recession, a frightened film industry has dumbed itself down. Call Girl bucks that trend.

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The Mortal Instruments review: The story of a love triangle set in an underworld of demons and vampires is painfully unimaginative

By Chris Tookey

PUBLISHED: 16:32 EST, 22 August 2013 | UPDATED: 06:47 EST, 23 August 2013

The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones (12A)

Verdict: Very sub-Potter

Rating:

Still the attempts to launch a young adult movie franchise continue...

Heroine Clary (played by Lily Collins, the astoundingly pretty daughter of Phil) hangs out in Brooklyn, with an artist mother (Lena Headey) and mum’s lover, Luke (Aiden Turner).

She also has a platonic boyfriend Simon (Robert Sheehan), who loves Clary more than she realises.

Lily Collins plays Hermoine Clary, who falls for a demon warrior. Predictably, drama ensues

But then Clary falls for mysterious, tall, blond stranger Jace (Jamie Campbell Bower), who reveals himself to be a Shadowhunter, an angelic warrior against demons.

Clary discovers that she is one too, as is her mother, and there’s an underworld she knew nothing about, inhabited by demons, angels, vampires and werewolves.

As in Twilight, she is torn between two very different young men.

Fans of the novels will doubtless derive pleasure from seeing the books come to life. The actors are attractive enough to please the core teenage audience.

The film is, however, unlikely to earn many converts.

In an attempt to emulate Harry Potter or the Twilight series, this second rate knock off does itself no favours and looks all the more unimaginative in comparison

Cassandra Clare, author of the best-selling books on which this movie is based, began as a writer of fan fiction inspired by the Harry Potter books, and it shows. 

The characterisation and plot developments are painfully unimaginative.

Like the Percy Jackson movies, this inadequate attempt to emulate the success of Harry Potter will appeal only to existing fans and the very undemanding.

Jamie Campbell-Bower is planning to visit a tattooist to add yet another piece of body art to his well-illustrated frame.

The Bedales-educated 24-year-old — one of the stars of new film The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones — already boasts reminders of many of the projects he has worked on.

'Jamie 4 Lily' doesn't have the same ring now that co-stars Jamie Campbell-Bower and Lily Collins have split up

It’s as well he didn’t mark his time in The Mortal Instruments — hyped as the successor to the Harry Potter and Twilight fantasy franchises — with a tattoo during filming, or he might have been tempted to inscribe the name of his co-star Lily Collins, daughter of drummer Phil.

hey were boyfriend and girlfriend during filming and only broke up while promoting the movie worldwide. Sadly, ‘Jamie 4 Lily’ no longer has quite the same relevance that it once did?… 

That said, the pair (left) seem perfectly at ease with one another as they talk about the ?40?million movie.

Lily, 24, describes him as ‘awesome’. Jamie says she was ‘a brilliant co-star’ and underlines the fact they remain good friends by saying: ‘We are tight: always have been, always will be.’

The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones, in cinemas this week.

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The Mortal Instruments review: The story of a love triangle set in an underworld of demons and vampires is painfully unimaginative

By Chris Tookey

PUBLISHED: 16:32 EST, 22 August 2013 | UPDATED: 06:47 EST, 23 August 2013

The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones (12A)

Verdict: Very sub-Potter

Rating:

Still the attempts to launch a young adult movie franchise continue...

Heroine Clary (played by Lily Collins, the astoundingly pretty daughter of Phil) hangs out in Brooklyn, with an artist mother (Lena Headey) and mum’s lover, Luke (Aiden Turner).

She also has a platonic boyfriend Simon (Robert Sheehan), who loves Clary more than she realises.

Lily Collins plays Hermoine Clary, who falls for a demon warrior. Predictably, drama ensues

But then Clary falls for mysterious, tall, blond stranger Jace (Jamie Campbell Bower), who reveals himself to be a Shadowhunter, an angelic warrior against demons.

Clary discovers that she is one too, as is her mother, and there’s an underworld she knew nothing about, inhabited by demons, angels, vampires and werewolves.

As in Twilight, she is torn between two very different young men.

Fans of the novels will doubtless derive pleasure from seeing the books come to life. The actors are attractive enough to please the core teenage audience.

The film is, however, unlikely to earn many converts.

In an attempt to emulate Harry Potter or the Twilight series, this second rate knock off does itself no favours and looks all the more unimaginative in comparison

Cassandra Clare, author of the best-selling books on which this movie is based, began as a writer of fan fiction inspired by the Harry Potter books, and it shows. 

The characterisation and plot developments are painfully unimaginative.

Like the Percy Jackson movies, this inadequate attempt to emulate the success of Harry Potter will appeal only to existing fans and the very undemanding.

Jamie Campbell-Bower is planning to visit a tattooist to add yet another piece of body art to his well-illustrated frame.

The Bedales-educated 24-year-old — one of the stars of new film The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones — already boasts reminders of many of the projects he has worked on.

'Jamie 4 Lily' doesn't have the same ring now that co-stars Jamie Campbell-Bower and Lily Collins have split up

It’s as well he didn’t mark his time in The Mortal Instruments — hyped as the successor to the Harry Potter and Twilight fantasy franchises — with a tattoo during filming, or he might have been tempted to inscribe the name of his co-star Lily Collins, daughter of drummer Phil.

hey were boyfriend and girlfriend during filming and only broke up while promoting the movie worldwide. Sadly, ‘Jamie 4 Lily’ no longer has quite the same relevance that it once did?… 

That said, the pair (left) seem perfectly at ease with one another as they talk about the ?40?million movie.

Lily, 24, describes him as ‘awesome’. Jamie says she was ‘a brilliant co-star’ and underlines the fact they remain good friends by saying: ‘We are tight: always have been, always will be.’

The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones, in cinemas this week.

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A sex scandal to beat Profumo: It's hard to keep up with this story of Swedish corruption, but you'll be glad you did

By Chris Tookey

PUBLISHED: 21:15 GMT, 15 August 2013 | UPDATED: 21:40 GMT, 15 August 2013

Call Girl (18)

Verdict: Good, but hard to track down

Rating:

You’ll be hard-pressed to find this Swedish film in your local cinema, but it’s the only ambitious, high-quality release of the week. 

This tremendous debut by Mikael Marcimain tells the true story of a 1976 sex scandal that threatened the Swedish political system.

One to watch: Call Girl is the most worthwhile film released this week. It makes an audience work, but in all the right ways

It’s like Britain’s Profumo affair but much sleazier and with more to say about the corruption of ideals.

The Swedish government was a Social Democrat one, and the film has a beady eye for the Left-wing cant that accompanied the underhand actions.

There are even interesting echoes of the Blair era and of the recent Jimmy Savile and Catholic Church allegations.

But even at 140 minutes, the film seems rushed, and might have been better as a mini-series.

Intrigue: Sofia Karemyr (right) gives an engaging performance in this tale of political corruption

The decision to tell the tale from two points of view — a seemingly tough 15-year-old girl (Sofia Karemyr) who is recruited as a prostitute, and an honest cop (Simon J. Berger) who uncovers the truth — is hard to follow at first.

But it comes good in the final hour as the pair become aware of each other’s existence. 

The air of menace becomes palpable, and the film is a reminder of a kind of paranoid thriller that is not being made today.

During the recession, a frightened film industry has dumbed itself down. Call Girl bucks that trend.

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