20. A Landscape Of Lies; movie review
Cert 15
89 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong language
Here it is - the movie which spawned a notorious tax fraud case.
The truth is that A Landscape Of Lies could never match the true story which emanated from its inception.
Unknown to its director, Paul Knight, its executive producer, Bashar al-Issa and an underemployed Northern Irish actor called Aoife Madden, applied for £2.7m in VAT and tax credits for a film called Landscape Of Lives.
They signed fake receipts and invoices sent between three production companies that Issa controlled and the film was supposedly going to star Liam Neeson and Michael Caine name with a budget of almost £20 million, provided by Jordanian investors.
They hadn’t shot a frame but while they were on bail Issa and Madden actually tried to make the film and renamed it, ironically, A Landscape of Lies.
However, their production cost £80,000 instead of £20m and starred Loose Women presenter Andrea McLean as a psychotherapist and included among the cast EastEnders actor Marc Bannerman.
Unsurprisingly, it is not a film which will challenge for this year's Oscar's but its back story makes it a source of movie geek intrigue.
As it happens, the plot has promise but its execution fails because director Paul Knight, in common with many low budget directors, does not seem to realise that less is more.
He introduces too many characters and shoots far too many scenes, resulting in a disjointed final product.
Its storyline surrounds the murder of an army veteran (Bannerman) and its connection to a psychopathic gangster (Danny Midwinter) and a property developer (Philp Brodie).
But there are too many distractions for the audience to be able to really immerse themselves into the story.
For example, there must be at least a dozen shots which linger gratuitously over women's legs and cleavages which have nothing to do with the direction of travel.
There is a similar red herring in relation to the property developer's daughter being smutty towards her teacher a propos to nothing at all.
In all honesty, if it were in isolation, I would not be recommending a viewing of A Landscape Of Lies but its history means in has a definite curiosity value.
Reasons to watch: the curiosity of its notorious backgroundHowever, their production cost £80,000 instead of £20m and starred Loose Women presenter Andrea McLean as a psychotherapist and included among the cast EastEnders actor Marc Bannerman.
Unsurprisingly, it is not a film which will challenge for this year's Oscar's but its back story makes it a source of movie geek intrigue.
As it happens, the plot has promise but its execution fails because director Paul Knight, in common with many low budget directors, does not seem to realise that less is more.
He introduces too many characters and shoots far too many scenes, resulting in a disjointed final product.
Its storyline surrounds the murder of an army veteran (Bannerman) and its connection to a psychopathic gangster (Danny Midwinter) and a property developer (Philp Brodie).
But there are too many distractions for the audience to be able to really immerse themselves into the story.
For example, there must be at least a dozen shots which linger gratuitously over women's legs and cleavages which have nothing to do with the direction of travel.
There is a similar red herring in relation to the property developer's daughter being smutty towards her teacher a propos to nothing at all.
In all honesty, if it were in isolation, I would not be recommending a viewing of A Landscape Of Lies but its history means in has a definite curiosity value.
Reasons to avoid: it is a typical low-budget crime caper
Laughs: none
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 4/10
Director Paul Knight - quote: "As an independent filmmaker, I was being promised to have my next five projects funded. Then, they just went quiet, they disappeared. Obviously, now it has come out they were arrested.”
The big question: Has there ever been another film when the back story is more intriguing than the movie itself?
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