Films that depict just how meaningless life can be are an odd genre. They are by their nature depressing and sullen but they also are able to spark a reaction in the audience by making their lives seem down right bright by comparison. This type of film is usually not the sort that would be financed by a major studio. It is up to the independent film world to make something this off the beaten track possible. One example under consideration here is ‘Confession of a Fool’; not exactly a title that would sell a lot of tickets. Thankfully Indy flicks allow the audience to decide what type of film they want to see and this is a prime example. The movie is at times overly stylistic and frequently moody to the point of melodrama. It does sport an excellent, well seasoned cast which does go a long way towards the presentation. There is a lot working here to recommend this film to the more discerning film buffs out there. While it is never going to be hailed as the fill good film of the year it sets out to show a life on the edge of disintegration and succeeds in that goal. This is just not a film for everyone nor is it one that is easy to appreciate. It requires more than the usual amount of patience on the part of the viewer. It is a dark look at a single life and tries to tell the story of just how things came to be so bad for the protagonist. The film was released in England with moderate box office after which it gained releases in several foreign markets. Anchor Bay has secured the United States DVD distribution rights and has provided a means for American audiences to enjoy this movie.

The film was written and directed by Baillie Walsh. As a writer he has one other film to his name, a documentary. He has more experience as a director with a handful of movies mostly either other documentaries or concerned with the music scene. This is his initial opus where he directs what he has written and his first foray into fiction. Considering Walsh is making a radical change in the type of film he is involved with this can be looked at as a new experience for him. Walsh is doing something here that all new film makers have to try; experimentation. He is testing the waters of this new path in his craft so perfection is not something that need be anticipated. This is the only way a film maker can grow by taking chances and Walsh has done that here. The script has certain boldness to it for projecting such a dark sense of melancholy. It needs to be remembered that the full range of human emotions are fair game as the basis for a story. This one has just chosen to consider the less comfortable emotional states a person can find himself in. while this is a depressing theme it makes for generally interesting cinema. Walsh is acting as a storyteller it is just the story is more a cautionary tale and an indictment of the emptiness of a part of our society. His story is basic almost Spartan in its scope. It was not intended as a sweeping commentary on the human condition taking a more personalized expression of grief and despair. A broader sense may be inferred by the audience as they translate what the see this one man go through but that is what makes for good story telling; the audience can take something different away with them.

As a director Walsh may seem like he structured this film in the usual three act scaffold. While there are three distinct sections of the film it is different from this standard format. There is a prologue in the present followed by the middle flashback portion and then a concluding epilogue. The difference between this and the standard three acts is technical but important to understand. Normally flashbacks are used in exposition to show how a certain character can to the current predicament. Here the flashbacks are the core of the story. It is the place were the main action takes place bridging the gap between the start and finish. While we know up front how things will turn out for the teenaged version of the main character it is the teen’s story much more than the adult’s. Walsh paces the film well with some portions seeming to drag somewhat. In those cases I had the feeling that it was intended. This is not an action flick so the mood is set by the flow of the film. Since it is concerned with emotionally difficult and trying times it is only natural that the movement forward slows and even stops at points. The man is frozen by indecision and self doubts. There is vagueness in the style that helps the audience understand the inner turmoil of the character. Anyone who has even had or knows someone will clinical depression will tell you that the worse of this condition is the feeling of being stuck in life. This is brutally brought home in this film.

Joe Scot (Daniel Craig) is an English actor who moved to Hollywood a number of years ago. Lately his career has hit a wall and the parts are few and far between. Unable to face his failures he turns towards the use of cocaine and prostitutes just to numb his inner turmoil and self loathing. Even his much put upon maid, Ophelia Franklin (Eve) has nothing but disrespect for him. This is not the life of a big movie star that Joe had dreamt of back in England. The opening is odd and a bit artsy. There is a shot of a tow headed child in a field that moves into Joe having a three way and some cocaine with a couple of young ‘professional’ women. It does set up the dichotomy between the young Joe and the one in the present that is the foundation of the story. One warning sign that is live is spiraling out of control is the size of his phone sex bill. Joe is unable too deal with people on a personal level. His dismal routine is disrupted when he receives word that his childhood best friend as died. Joe has to return to England for the funeral. On his way his thoughts turn back to his teen years; Joe played in the flashbacks by Harry Eden. Completely despondent Joe attempts suicide by diving into the ocean. While floating there he remembers his past. Much of it concerns his sexual relationship with a home town girl Evelyn Adams (Jodhi May) which ended tragically and caused Joe to seek a new life here in the States.

The film explores numerous aspects of Joe’s personality and goes into depth as to the formative events that lead him to such a bleak and dismal adult life. There is also just a touch of the corruption of youth and its aftermath presented here to fully flesh out the transition from the teen Joe to the adult. Anchor Bay has always been at the forefront of bringing little known independent films to your home. This is at times a difficult film too watch but Walsh is on the right track as a director.