Sunday, November 5, 2017

Now Showing: The Cry of the Owl


The Cry of the Owl
Drama/Suspense
Director: Chris Evans
Writer: Phil Dolan, based on the book by Patricia Highsmith
Cast: Chris Evans, Emma Watson, Alden Ehrenreich, Haley Bennett

Plot: Following a painful divorce from his wife Nickie (Haley Bennett), Robert Forester (Chris Evans) leaves New York and moves to Langley, Pennsylvania, a small town, where he develops an obsession from Jenny Thierolf (Emma Watson). He spies on her through her kitchen window, enjoying her temperament as she goes about her daily chores. One night, Nickie catches Robert watching her, but instead of being upset, she invites him inside where they talk.

Jenny sees their chance meeting as an act of fate and breaks off her engagement to hot-tempered Greg Wyncoop (Alden Ehrenreich), who resentfully begins spying on the pair to learn more about Robert so as to find a way to get even with him. Greg meets with Nickie, Robert's ex-wife, and she encourages him to find a way to punish her ex-husband. During the next weeks, Jenny pursues Robert, contacting him at his home and at his job at Langley Aeronautics. Robert is offered a promotion at work that requires him to relocate to Philadelphia, and he hopes this will put an end to Jenny's advances, which are making him increasingly uneasy.

One night, Greg starts a fight with Robert that ends when Robert knocks Greg unconscious along a river bank. When Greg is reported missing, the police suspect Robert has murdered him, though Robert in fact was the victim of Greg's attack and had last seen Greg alive. The police have their suspicions about Robert confirmed when Robert's former wife Nickie tells them that Robert once threatened her with a weapon. After a newspaper publishes an article about the case, Robert's promotion is withdrawn. A badly decomposed body is found in the river and the police suspect it is Greg's, but the identification proves difficult. Jenny quickly decides that Robert has murdered Greg, that Robert represents death and commits suicideNickie's new husband Ralph Jurgen informs Robert that Greg is alive, that Greg and Nickie have staged Greg's disappearance in order to frame Robert.

Greg attempts to shoot Robert, but instead wounds a bystander. The police place Robert in protective custody, and Greg threatens him again. Soon after, Robert is informed that Greg has been picked up by the police, and that it was Nickie who paid Greg to pretend to be dead to get him in trouble.

When Robert drives to Jenny's house to collect some things, he is met by Nickie and Greg. Nickie tries to persuade Robert to tell the police that she had nothing to do with setting him up, and warns him of an enraged and drunken Greg. Greg attacks Robert with a knife; in the subsequent fight, Greg is knocked unconscious, but not before he accidentally stabs Nickie. Robert is again left as a suspect in an apparent crime scene.


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