Eliminate: Archie Cookson

A Realtor Pictures production. (Worldwide sales: Seven & Seven, London.) Produced by Ioanna Karavella. Executive producer, David Bunker. Directed, put together by Make the most of Holder.With: Paul Rhys, Claire Skinner, Paul Ritter, Georgia King, Ewan Stewart, Nicholas Day, Phillip Manikum, Richard Cambridge, Freddy Downham, Juan Herrera, Gabriel Vick, Marc Danbury.An ambitious Brit indie that does less than fulfill the anticipation it boosts, "Eliminate: Archie Cookson" starts just like a droll sad-sack spin on spy spoofery, but with the finish has moved from comedy toward a dramatic heft its spindly legs can't support. That is one awkward tonal mix ultimately produces an offbeat curio instead of a completely satisfying balancing, d.p.-switched-author-helmer Make the most of Holder's debut feature remains a pointing harbinger of better attempt to come. Offshore home-format sales look likely. Title figure (Paul Rhys, within the first bigscreen lead since 2002's "Food of affectionInch) can be a failure by any standard, particularly individuals of his ex-wife, Camilla (Claire Skinner). Once an Intelligence Dept. up-and-comer, he's now slunk sufficiently lower the ladder to help keep his position -- nowadays simply office effort -- solely due to pitying, influential in-laws and regulations and rules. While former spouse and horribly precocious boy Hector (Freddy Downham) still occupy tony digs and social status, Archie stays nights consuming within the dreary flat, days sleepwalking through Russian-to-British translation duties. He's literally asleep at the office (rejected from sight inside an audio transcription booth) when assassins with silencers gun lower his co-employees over some missing old Cold War audiotapes that could compromise the integrity of government, additionally to 2 senior citizens gentlemen spymasters (Philip Manikum, Nicholas Day). The Two coolly determine that Archie -- who is now offering the incriminating reels within the possession -- must die too, dispatching veteran Ennis (Paul Burns) to accomplish the deed. Consider Ennis and Archie were co-employees in better days, Ennis gives him 24 several hours to return the items and hopefully save their very own existence. Naturally, everything does not go as planned, though once "Eliminate" turns into a comparatively straightforward espionage film, its financial and imaginative limitations be apparent. What starts out just like a dry sendup of "The Spy Who Showed up Within the Cold"-type mellers evolves continuously less comedy, with no emotional weight or clever, suspenseful twists needed to within the narrative ante. Particularly, the film takes too seriously the protag's associations with Camilla and new squeeze Lucy (Georgia King), an extremely ditzy bombshell of suspect loyalties. The finale flirts with tragedy, nevertheless the lightweight pic can't handle it. You will discover enough appealing elements here to produce one desire a remake that correctly balances the seriocomedy, ideally hewing more toward the ironic, satirical tenor David Hamill's score (breezily nodding to '60s genre photos) keeps throughout. Holder demonstrates a sure hands along with his accomplished cast, a enjoyable feeling of deadpan scene pacing, plus an ease while using bricks-and-mortar areas of developing a modest enterprise appear just like a more costly one. Rhys is certainly watchable, nevertheless the show is rather well stolen by Burns, whose American-outlined friendly foe enhances fair-to-good material getting a really funny combination of deep-dyed cynicism and unforeseen hominess.Camera (color, HD), Stein Stie editor, Valentina Riva music, David Hamill production designer, Nicola Dietmann art director, Tanya Burns costume designer, Amanda Hambleton appear, Daniel Chu Owen appear designers, Mark Kenna, Alex Hudd visual effects supervisor, James Cost assistant director, Simon Haveland casting, Camilla Evans. Examined on DVD, San Francisco Bay Area, March. 4, 2011. (In Mill Valley Film Festival -- World Cinema Montreal World Film Festival.) Running time: 87 MIN. Contact the number newsroom at news@variety.com