Felicia's Journey (1999)

An Exercise In Nonsense

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

I came to "Felicia's Journey" without advance knowledge of the film. The Verizon FiOS program information describes it simply as, "A young woman leaves rural Ireland to search for the man who got her pregnant." It also listed two cast members: Bob Hoskins and Arsinee Khanjian. FiOS doesn't even mention Elaine Cassidy who does such an outstanding job as the title character, the female lead. The description did not even categorize the film as a drama of comedy.I chose to save this on my DVR because I usually like films that Bob Hoskins agrees to be in. I had not heard of Arsinee Khanjian or her husband, the director Atom Egoyan.I suggest that I was fortunate to not have advance knowledge. Early in the film I realized that Joe Hilditch (Hoskins) was unusual. He seems to run the lunch room of a heavy industry factory, but has the title of "catering manager;" although he is not the head chef of a four star restaurant, he is presented as a culinary expert of great sensitivity. Yet despite his obvious culinary expertise, at home he prepares meals while following along with a TV cooking show. In other words, this is a complex character, someone you are interested in learning more about.That is probably about as much as you should know about this film before you watch it for the first time. Oh, one more thing - it is not a comedy.

A naive young Irish girl travels to England to find her boyfriend, who has gone there to find work. Unable to find him she meets a kind catering manager Joe Hilditch,(Bob Hoskins) who helps her find lodgings. They keep meeting up and he continues to help her in her search, Felicia tells him her story and that she is pregnant, he offers advice and offers to assist in getting an abortion, Felicia downbeat at not being able to find her beau, agrees. Recuperating in Hilditch'a house she doesn't realize the danger she is in. A very unusual film indeed, to the untrained eye it might seem like a period piece, as the music, clothes, cars etc would point in that direction, but it is a contemporary setting with wholesale old fashioned values. Hoskins is superb as the killer who films his victims before they die, the scenes where he relaxes by cooking to old tapes of his celebrity cook mother, gradually reveal where it all went wrong for him. Against this there are also flashbacks to Felicia's home town, where we learn of her development and her blossoming relationship is revealed along with her father's dislike of said friendship. An odd but totally intriguing film.

The TV announcer who introduced this late one Saturday night said it should have won Oscars. Quite a statement for a film I'd never heard of...though why I should have taken any notice of a TV announcer, I don't know. In the event, said announcer was talking tripe.It's a dreary, miserable movie that leaves a bad taste in the mouth. I couldn't get on with Hoskins' awful Burr-ming-gum accent. Can't see any advantage in it being set in the Midland's anyway. Unresolved threads abound...and I wouldn't normally mind this but half of them make no sense. And what about when Hoskins' says he'll pick Felicia up from outside her B&B although she never told him where exactly she was staying??? Or her buying into the funeral that clearly never took place (and where was she during those days???) Clumbsy and ill-thought through bits of business if you ask me.It's a thriller without thrills. It's full of pretentious bits of business. It's depressing... Didn't like it. Thought it was rubbish. Wouldn't recommend it. 'Nuff said.

You just need to see this as a poorly executed anti abortion propaganda and you will realize just how bad it really is. The main message of this movie is that even the sickest of persons can't commit an abortion. If you ask that's not a long way away from blowing up abortion clinics. So this guy wants to kill some poor girl but he has to convince her to do an abortion first. What a load of crap. And the worst part is that he has an convincing argument (bringing a child into a loveless environment), but that is supposed to be dismissed because he's a freak anyway. And the part with the bible pushers...first they throw this girl out just because she explains someone stole her money (that rule must be in the bible somewhere) and then on the end they are some sort of angel like deus ex machina delivering the killer from evil by harassing him on his front yard. Come on. Other downpoints include a very confusing scenario (and I don't mean in a good way)...so this guy is just some psycho why? Because his mother fed his some liver once? And I don't know about the rest of you but he seemed like the nicest person in the world throughout the whole move! even though he was a wearing girlie clothes, stealing money and taping girls in his car. If you forget the idiot story, this movie has a really great cinematography and Bob Hoskins was really great, and it has one of those funny little English cars in it. If it was actually about some psycho killer I'd give it a 7 at least.