It cannot be denied that Hugo Weaving is one of the greatest actors working today. While Laurence Fishburne is, of course, awesome, The Matrix Trilogy would have been nothing without Weaving’s towering performance as Agent Smith. He added greater depth and complexity to V For Vendetta, and presented Red Skull as a most fearsome foe in Captain America: The First Avenger. But, for all the big budget films he does, it is his selection of smaller, independent projects that make for the most interesting viewing – and that’s what we have here, in The Mule.
Check out the plot summary for the movie below:
“Inspired by true events, The Mule tells the story of a naïve young man who is detained by federal police with lethal narcotics hidden in his stomach. Alone and afraid, ‘the Mule’ makes a desperate choice; to defy bodily functions and withhold the evidence… literally. By doing so, he becomes a ‘human time bomb’, dragging cops, criminals and concerned family into his impossible escapade.”
This Australian crime drama is co-directed by Tony Mahony (Ray) and Angus Sampson (The Last Supper), who are working from a script by Sampson and Leigh Whannell (Saw), and story by Jamie Browne (The King). Joining Weaving on the cast are Sampson, Whannell, Georgina Haig (Once Upon A Time), and John Noble (Fringe) – the performances of whom were praised when the film screened at the US South By Southwest Film Festival in March this year.
The momentum generated by that early screening will surely gather pace now that we have the first trailer to enjoy. This preview indicates a well-written, well-performed marriage of drama, social commentary and the driest of dry humour – creating a movie that I am now very much looking forward to watching in full. Framing a compelling thriller of a story inside a plot structure that is built upon the bowel functions of one man is a unique and original approach, bolstered by what looks to be a beautifully understated turn from Weaving. Truly, nobody can release the air from a balloon quite as brilliantly as the man who played Mitzi Del Bra in The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert.
Still featuring on the festival circuit, the film is next slated to be screened at the London Film Festival on October 9th 2014, and is listed for the Philadelphia International Film Festival on October 21st 2014. Where The Mule travels to after that remains to be seen.