You can admire Abandon more for what it attempts, as opposed to what it actually achieves. Making his directorial debut after winning an Oscar® for scripting Traffic, screenwriter Stephen Gaghan emphasizes character dynamics and time-shifting structure over action and plotting, and the results are intelligent but oddly detached. As a recovering alcoholic detective (Benjamin Bratt) is assigned to reopen the two-year-old disappearance of an arrogant college student, we're drawn into the thoughts and emotions of the missing person's former girlfriend (Katie Holmes), whose behavior--especially when her volatile ex-boyfriend suddenly reappears--is key to the slowly unfolding mystery. Abandon is all about mood and atmosphere--shadowy gloom is dominant throughout--and viewers may grow impatient as the tissue-thin plot leads to an anticlimactic revelation. Still, Gaghan's sharp dialogue draws fine work from Holmes, and his supporting cast (especially Zooey Deschanel and Melanie Lynskey, as fellow students) adds much-needed energy on the fringes of this lugubrious psychological thriller. --Jeff Shannon
(15 votes)
2.
Oscar-winning screenwriter Stephen Gaghan (TRAFFIC) makes his directorial debut with ABANDON, a dense, moody psychological thriller. Loosely based on the book ADAM'S FALL by Sean Desmond, ABANDON tells the troubled story of Katie (Katie Holmes), a college senior who's having a tough time keeping herself focused. She is still struggling with memories of her boyfriend Embry (Charlie Hunnam), who disappeared two years earlier. Her past comes back to haunt her when recovering alcoholic detective Wade Handler (Benjamin Bratt) is assigned to Embry's case. As Katie struggles to finish her thesis and secure a job with a prestigious firm in the city, she must contend with the reappearance of Embry, who seems intent on destroying her life.
Gaghan's stylish picture, shot by acclaimed cinematographer Matthew Libatique, owes an obvious debt to classic thrillers from the 1970s (he even goes so far as to have Holmes sing a rendition of the theme to ROSEMARY'S BABY, ala Roman Polanski and his starlet, Mia Farrow.) Zooey Deschanel (MUMFORD, THE GOOD GIRL) delivers yet another scene-stealing performance as Katie's snide, sarcastic friend. The film dwells in the murky territory between realistic college drama and abstract psychological thriller, making it an unsettling and suspenseful experience.
(15 votes)
3.
Katie (Katie Holmes) is under pressure. She faces exams, completion of her thesis, and a competitive interview process, all of which is compounded when a police detective, Wade Handler (Benjamin Bratt), begins investigating the two year-old disappearance of her boyfriend, Embry (Charlie Hunnam), a young man whose memory haunts and obsesses her. As the investigation continues, Katie is forced to choose between past passions and new possibilities, even as Handler is discovering surprising new facts about Embry’s final days and his possible connection to another disappearance from campus.
(15 votes)
4.
Watch Who You Leave Behind.
From the Oscar-winning writer of Traffic comes this spellbinding psychological thriller with ingenious plot twists that will keep you guessing until its electrifying conclusion.
Katie Holmes (Wonder Boys) stars as a beautiful and success-driven college student haunted by the mysterious disappearance of a former boyfriend, a brilliant young composer named Embry (Charlie Hunnam), Benjamin Bratt (Pinero) plays Wade Handler, a detective struggling to put back the pieces of his troubled career. When someone tied to Embry's past starts leaving clues, Embry's ex-girlfriend and Wade are drawn into a harrowing mystery-and plunged into an inescapable web of desire, deceit and murder.
With pulse-pounding suspense and riveting performances. Abandon delivers the thrills you've been looking for.
(15 votes)
5.
Watch Who You Leave Behind.
A missing person's case plunges a student (Katie Holmes) and a detective (Benjamin Bratt) into an inescapable web of desire, deceit and murder.
(15 votes)
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