Young Adam

The controversial prose of the late cult author/Beat-Generation poet/heroin casualty Alexander Trocchi inspired this foreboding, “amoral moral tale” in the grey cityscapes and waterways of early 1950s Scotland. The discovery of a young woman's corpse in the River Clyde enmeshes Ella (Tilda Swinton) and Les (Peter Mullan), an unhappily-married couple, along with Joe (Ewan McGregor), the drifter who's lately been working for them and living on their barge that ferries between Glasgow and Edinburgh. At first the gruesome find serves as a morbid diversion from the work routine – but perhaps it's a warning as well, of things to come. Despite his friendship with Les, Joe seduces Ella, and later on her sister Gwen. The interloper's sexual magnetism and irresistibilty is a jolt of live-wire electricity in the dismal, repressive climate of the day. But too much voltage can be fatal. Just ask Cathie – the dead girl.