Director: Måns Mårlind, Björn Stein
Screenplay: Michael Cooney
Producers: Emilio Diez Barroso, Neal Edelstein, Darlene Caamano Loquet, Mike Macari
Starring: Julianne Moore, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Jeffrey DeMunn, Frances Conroy
MPAA Rating: R
Running time: 112 min.

(2.5/5)

I love Julianne Moore. It’s hard not to when an actress has delivered some performances as outstanding as Cathy Whitaker, Laura Brown and even the unlikable but memorable Barbara Baekeland yet over the last few years, these roles are outnumbered by mediocre performances in under baked films; most of them thrillers that never really manage to thrill. I get the sense that Moore really likes the genre and is trying to find a good one among the bad but it usually ends with her good performance lost among in the mix of mediocrity. In that sense, Shelter is a slightly different beast in that it features a handful of great performances sadly, the film still doesn’t manage to deliver a really effective thriller.

This time around Moore plays Cara, a psychologist who fully believes that multiple personality disorder is an impossibility; a hoax in the psychological field that has gone on for too long and she is, apparently single handily, trying to disprove it. Her father, a shrink played by Jeffrey DeMunn, feels differently and when he comes across the extraordinary case of a young man (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) which appears to have no other logical explanation beyond MPD, he invites his daughter to investigate further. So begins this little tale of drama-turned-horror-movie as Cara’s research uncovers the histories behind Adam’s various “personalities” while trying to explain why a man would find it usefull to, in her mind, pretend to be these various individuals.

This little picture is directed by the Swedish duo of Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein who will deliver the next entry into the Underwold franchise to fans in January of 2012, from a scrip by Identity writer Michael Cooney. I wish I could say this is an interesting combination which delivers something new and unexpected to this type of supernatural drama but fact is, this is fairly standard run of the mill material complete with occult overtones. Even the palette here is bland and the settings, as effective as they could have been with frequent trips to the wilderness, never feel particularly threatening.

One thing that marks this film as slightly better than the average is the cast. Moore is good but uninspired, delivering her lines with little gusto but the same can’t be said for Jeffrey DeMunn who seems to be revelling in the opportunity to make his daughter work the extra mile. He has a near smile on his face all the time and I really liked the fact that he seemed to be enjoying Cara’s struggles. Frances Conroy only appears shortly but she has a fantastic scene with Rhys Meyers where she makes him work twice as hard to stay on the same page; she is fantastic. Jonathan Rhys Meyers’, who has appeared in a number of films but is likely best know for his work on TV’s “The Tudors,” has the big performance here jumping back and forth between personalities, allowing him to display his amazing ear for language. I didn’t find it as effective as Edward Norton’s performance in Primal Fear (for some reason, all movies with MPD remind me of Norton’s great debut) but then this film isn’t as effective as Gregory Hoblit’s.

I didn’t care much for Shelter, it’s too familiar and mediocre to be memorable in the long run. It’s too bad that some good performances are lost in the numbness.

Shelter is available on DVD and Blu-Ray on July 5th.

DVD Extras: Interviews with cast and crew including leads Julianne Moore and Jonathan Rhys Meyers who comes across as a very serious individual, directors Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein, the script writer and the film’s composer. Extras also include some b-reel footage which features some outtakes of the best exchagne in the film: the scene between Conroy and Rhys Meyers.