CINEMA: The Merry Gentleman

Michael Keaton not only stars in but also directs what must be one of the most decidedly depressing, dour films of the year. Although the wonderful Kelly MacDonald – so impressive in No Country For Old Men – gives another glowing performance here.

MacDonald plays Kate, a quiet, shy woman running away from a painful past and washing up in Chicago just before Christmas. One night she sees a shadowy figure on the roof opposite her office block and fears he is going to jump, but she subsequently discovers a man has been assassinated in her building and her would-be suicide could well be the shooter. Soon afterwards she meets Frank (Michael Keaton) and feels she has found a kindred spirit, as Frank is willing to sit in companionable silence with her and not ask questions like the cop (Bobby Cannavale) assigned to the case. But as her friendship with Frank grows Kate discovers all is not as straightforward as he has led her to believe, so should she trust him?

The Merry Gentleman is so far from being a merry movie you wonder it doesn’t breach the trade descriptions act. It is also dark, sombre and travels at a snail’s pace through its 96 minute running time and has one of those annoying up-in-the-air endings where nothing is resolved, so you can’t even feel satisfied that you know what the conclusion is.

This may well be because the only logical ending is even more depressing than what has gone before. Even Kelly’s gentle, understated performance can’t lift what turns out to be a real downer.