No Riddle to Film’s Success

Impossibly smart, cleverly cast and wildly entertaining, The Riddle engages from start to finish with an unlikely plot that includes visits with Charles Dickens in 19th century London and a 21st century journalist on the trail of a murderer.

In modern movie terms, think Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels meets The Sixth Sense, but with the sort of stellar cast that would make The Riddle remarkable even if it wasn’t quite this good.

In London, an unpublished Dickens novel turns up in the cellar of a Thames-side pub. Pub patron and sports journalist Mike Sullivan (Vinnie Jones, above center) begins investigating a series of murders he doesn’t immediately connect with the Dickens manuscript. Even so, he gradually finds himself obsessing on a murder bound within the manuscript pages.

Sullivan is aided on both fronts by police press officer Kate Merril (Julie Cox, above left) and a homeless tramp played by Derek Jacobi (above right). We see more of Jacobi in historical sequences where he turns up as Charles Dickens. As startling as Dickens’ appearance is that of Vanessa Redgrave who plays Sullivan’s greedy publisher.

And, speaking of Redgrave, the casting here is both unlikely and magical. I’ve been enjoying Vinnie Jones’ performances since his film debut in Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. In that film, ex-footballer Jones played the sort of man-of-few-words-tough he’s come to be known for, so it was fun to see a different side of Jones in The Riddle. Here he plays a sort of intellectual man of action (the two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive) and you don’t disbelieve him for a heartbeat.

Derek Jacobi is wonderful in his dual role. Of course. Jacobi appeared most recently in Gladiator, Nanny McPhee and Underworld: Evolution, but if you don’t know his name, you know his face.

Although she plays a single character in The Riddle, Julie Cox’ role is somewhat dual, as well. As both police press agent and Sullivan’s love interest, she spends a lot of the film in a visible -- and understandable -- personal conflict. Vanessa Redgrave’s character, on the other hand, is not at all conflicted. Her nastiness is palpable and you can’t help loving to hate her. Vera Day’s performance as pub owner Sadie Miller is just as sharp... if considerably more sad.

Even the smaller roles are cast with jewel-like precision in The Riddle. Mark Asante; Jason Flemying; PH Moriarty; Mel Smith; Gareth Hunt. This is a film to watch carefully: the story is intricate, and the casting such that heavyweights -- former and even a few future -- can turn up at any corner.

Writer/director Brendan Foley draws a line between The Riddle’s casting and the sketches drawn by Boz himself. “We had the acting power to create a group of colorful supporting characters,” says Foley, “in much the same way as Dickens would populate his world with Beadles, Magwitches, Micawbers and Pumblechooks.”

Foley, who is the author of the bestseller Under the Wire, also wrote and directed Johnny Was (2006) and 2007’s Bog Body (currently in post production). Foley says that, in general, he is attracted by projects that promise more -- or less -- than the every day. Foley has been most influenced by “the great writers and directors who want to reach a mainstream audience looking for something smart with a twisty plot and unusual characters. I particularly admire those able to balance the realism of everyday life with the fantastical, unexpected or occasionally the supernatural.”