Franklyn – 2008 | 98 mins | Fantasy, Drama | Colour

Plot Synopsis

Franklyn marks the striking feature film debut of award-winning short-film writer/director Gerald McMorrow. The cerebral urban science-fiction fantasy drama is set between the parallel worlds of contemporary London and the retro-futuristic faith-dominated metropolis of Meanwhile City, weaving a tale of four lost souls whose lives are intertwined by fate, tragedy and romance. Sadly,the interwoven story threads feel more like loose ends than part of a developing narrative pattern. McMorrow’s cryptic and complex tale is both bold and visually imaginative but overly-ambitious with more ideas than the film can contain.

Esser (Bernard Hill) is a broken man, a church warden desperately searching for his wayward son amongst the rough streets of London’s homeless shelters. Jilted groom Milo (Sam Riley) is a heartbroken thirty-something desperately trying to find a way back to the purity of first love. Emilia (Eva Green) is a beautiful art student, her suicidal video art installations becoming increasingly more complex and deadly. Preest (Ryan Phillippe) is an atheist masked vigilante, searching for his nemesis, The Individual. on the streets of Meanwhile City; a monolithic fantasy metropolis ruthlessly governed by faith and religious fervour. Esser, Milo, Emilia, Preest – a group of people who couldn’t be further apart but their individual worlds are set for a cataclysmic collision.