Guy Pearce plays Sam Frank, a psychologist who specializes in the study of repressed memories. His meeting with a mysterious woman (Helena Bonham Carter) on a train while on route to his father’s funeral opens up the floodgates of his past.. Is she a ghost? A figment of his imagination? Or just a lost soul who reminds him of his childhood sweetheart? When she falls from a bridge into a nearby river, did she just faint or attempt suicide? These are just some of the questions posed by writer/director Michael Petroni. He uses Ruby, the woman without a past, as a trigger mechanism to dredge up a story of childhood innocence and dashed dreams.

"Till Human Voices Wake Us" is taken from a poem by T.A. Elliot and alludes to the tragedy that anesthetized his emotions. Much of the story, told in flashback, dwells on young Sam’s affection for Silvy, the paralytic girl who shared his romantic view of the world. Lindley Joyner and Brooke Harman bring whatever heart and soul the movie has as the childhood friends. The images and milieu Petroni chooses to tell his story, is often too blunt and undercuts the mystery posed by the intervention of Ruby in Sam’s life. Past and present never connect emotionally.

You will either be swept up in the dreamy atmosphere Petroni creates in "Till Human Voices Wake Us" or be bored to tears. A lot will depend on your own emotional baggage.

Postscript: Many of the elements in "Till Human Voices Wake Us" bear more than a striking resemblance to a hard to find Czeck film from 1969 called "Adrift" by Jan Kadar who is known more for "Lies My Father Told Me" (1975). A fisherman saves a mysterious woman from drowning and takes her into his home. Her presence drives him to murder and then she disappears. Was she real? A ghost? Or a dream?

Copyright 2003

"The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys" (2002) - Dir: Peter Care: Teenage boys at a Catholic school are caught with obscene comic books of their own creation and try to outdo themselves with some pranks that get out of control. Their adolescent fantasies are turned into animated super hero adventures that reflect their own personal strengths and weaknesses. Their teaching nun is depicted as a monster. Imaginative and insightful. Emile Hirsh, who did a star turn in "The Emperor’s Club," plays the most talented of the crew. With Kieran Culkin, Vincent D’Onofrio and Jodie Foster among others. Not for all tastes but worth a look.