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Are you free tonight? This is a simple enough question, but how Jonathon McQuarry (Ewan McGregor) answers it will change his life forever. A corporate auditor in the bustling city of New York, Jonathon leads an extremely isolated and boring life until he meets high-flying lawyer Wyatt Bose (Hugh Jackman). The charismatic Wyatt introduces him to ‘The List’, a sex club for affluent business people who work long hours and do not have the time required for hooking up with a sexual partner. This intimacy without intricacy arrangement operates via mobile phones and has a few rules – no names, no business talk and no rough stuff.
Of course all these successful business people just happen to be drop-dead gorgeous and terminally straight, but after a few minutes of voyeuristic indulgence, complications arise. The moody intimacy of the early scenes is maintained as the character-driven thriller created by Swiss-born director Marcel Langewegger shifts into high gear. Jonathon falls in love with ‘S’ (Michelle Williams), and when she disappears, he becomes the prime suspect. Suddenly his ordered world is thrown into turmoil and ordered rows of figures are replaced with blackmail, extortion, theft, kidnapping and murder.
It appears that all the characters are dabbling in some sort of deception, and as the plot twists and turns, it is very much like watching a complex card game unfold. McGregor, Jackman and Williams create believable characters in an almost fantasy world of the moneyed elite and the tension is palpable. We’re never too sure who is bluffing and who is holding a good hand, as the stakes become increasingly higher.
Directed by Marcel Langewegger. Rated MA.
