Review: With a Friend Like Harry (spoilers)
Harry is one of the most interesting, intimidating villians of all time. He doesn't have a hidden base inside a volcano, he doesn't have a weapon of mass destruction aimed at any major metropolitan city, he deosn't even have a gun.
What Harry has is an out of control id. Harry is pure need and lust. He may hide in a seemingly pleasent, if obsessive, personality, but he is a maniac.
Harry (Sergi Lopez) is Michel's (Laurent Lucas) old school mate. Michel doesn't remember Harry, but Harry remembers him. Michel is headed off on vacation with his wife Claire (Mathilde Seigner) and his three kids. Harry tags along with his girlfriend Plum (Sophie Guillemin). Slowly, Harry inserts himself into Michel's life. But unlike Eve Harrington, Harry decides to "help out" Michel by improving his life.
Within this masterfully suspenseful French thriller, Sergi Lopez shines as the homicidal Harry. In a Hitchcockian manner, the viewer is forced to suspend disbelief and get swept up in the story, and try to figure Harry out.
Let's just say that Harry is here to help, just in his own way.
The director, Dominik Moll, creates a creepy and surreal setting, and indulges the viewers deepest sense of dread.
With a Friend Like Harry does have its faults though. The story meanders along at an almost unjustifiably slow pace, and many viewers are bound to find it not in the least suspenseful.
But boy, Americans can't make 'em like this.
With a Friend Like Harry: B
I saw this movie a couple years ago in the Twin Cities and recently bought the DVD. Since this is not a sanguine splatter-fest like Final Destination, nobody wanted to watch it with me. A lot of people these days wouldn't recognize a decent suspense if it snuck up behind them. Not all movies in this genre need to ooze blood to be good.
That being said, With a Friend Like Harry is a great movie. Yes, it is slow. Yes, it has subtitles. But Harry is an insidious villain, slithering into Michel's world and sucking all the life from it - making him a more interesting evil-doer than say, Chuckie.
For the record, I think Harry does have a gun. After all, how did Plum die? She appears to have been shot in the head with a small caliber gun. I could be mistaken; it's been a few months since I saw this last.
Good review. I was struck by a line you use similar to one of jgandcag's in his review. He starts off "Perhaps it should be called with an id like Harry." The whole id thing hit you both (although from different directions), but I missed it coming and going.