Hallam Foe (18) **** (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)

Hallam Foe (18) ****

12:01am Thursday 30th August 2007 in

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Dir: David Mackenzie
With: Jamie Bell, Sophia Myles, Ciaran Hinds, Maurice Roeves

A troubled teenager journeys to the dark side of human nature and sexuality in David Mackenzie's tartan noir. Hallam, grief stricken over the death of his mother, has a hobby that puts him at odds with the locals - he likes to watch them during their most intimate moments.

Forced to leave his home in the country, he finds a job in an Edinburgh hotel and falls in love with a woman who is the spitting image of his late mother.

Based on the novel by Peter Jinks, Hallam Foe enters tricky territories, and it would not stand a chance without the film's leading man.

Jamie Bell, now making it big stateside but best remembered as the young dancer Billy Elliot, lends Mackenzie's movie the wit, charm and innocence it needs to rise above the sleazy and commonplace. His performance alone bumps a three-star movie up to a four.

Bell's snap, crackle and pop chemistry with co-star Sophia Myles aside, Hallam Foe boasts small, but perfectly formed, turns from Scotland's Maurice Roeves and Ewen Bremner (Trainspotting) as a pair of oddball hotel workers.

Add in a soundtrack featuring Franz Ferdinand, and Mackenzie (Young Adam) has delivered a classy coming-of-age tale.