A drifting hitchhiker, Martin (Oldman), walks into the life of lonely housewife Linda (Russell), whose husband (Lloyd) splits his time between balling a nurse and playing with his train set. Martin claims to be Linda's long-lost son, but he also resembles a man who raped her at a carnival as a sixteen year old. Is he telling the truth, and is Linda in any fit state to judge?
by William Thomas |
Published on
Release Date:
01 Jan 1988
Running Time:
90 minutes
Certificate:
18
Original Title:
Track 29
This is a heavy emotional brew from director Nic Roeg and writer Dennis Potters first collaboration. A spaced-out English lad (the immensely talented Gary Oldman) hitchhikes into the life of dotty North Carolina housewife Linda as her long lost son Or is he? This is a dangerous tale that flirts with taboos and lays them out almost as surreally as does David lynch. We are never quite sure if all the nastiness here (told in flashbacks and dreamy sequences) is genuine, or a product of Lindas shattering sanity.
Inventive, at times torturous, this a film that sees both Potter and Roeg firmly on form.
Starting out sombre, this soon twists into an Oedipal nightmare, handled with a real sense of smalltown horror by Nicolas Roeg.
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