Adapted from a short story by Owen Marshall, The Rule Of Jenny Pen feels like exactly that. Not that I am familiar with Marshall's writing. I just noticed that this movie feels a bit slight, buoyed by two fantastic lead performances, and cannot deliver a truly satisfying third act.
Geoffrey Rush is Stefan Mortensen, an elderly judge who ends up living in a care home after suffering from a stroke that leaves him partially paralysed. Mortensen wants to get back home as soon as possible, but that may not be an option for him as his body refuses to match the health of his mind. Also in the same care home is Dave Crealy (John Lithgow), a man who carries around a puppet named Jenny Pen and spends a lot of his time terrorising the residents. The staff aren't aware of this though, and it looks like Crealy will always manage to avoid any reprisals for his abuse.
Despite a few other cast members interacting with the leads, this is a two-hander that works best when both Rush and Lithgow are being confrontational with one another. In fact, this would work perfectly as a play with the opportunity to watch different heavyweights sinking their teeth into the roles. It's just a shame that the screenplay, co-written by Eli Kent and director James Ashcroft, doesn't do well enough outside of those moments. I think it's trying to look at the difficulty of having a clear mind trapped in a damaged body, but there are times in the film when it shows a level of calm acceptance for a situation that I would rather see characters continue to fight against.
Rush and Lithgow are both very good indeed, even if the latter also tries to maintain an Antipodean accent, and they feel perfectly cast in their respective roles. Lithgow has to deliver the bigger moments, showboating in front of a captive audience on occasion, and he is clearly having the most fun, but Rush is as indignant and strong-willed as he needs to be. George Henare is very good in the role of Tony, another resident who has been a victim of Crealy for a long time, and everyone else in the cast, from Maaka Pohatu to Hilary Norris, does great work, whether playing a carer or resident.
The technical side of everything is also very good. Everyone does their job with a degree of care and competence that keeps the whole thing looking and sounding as it should, but there's a real lack of flair or creativity, for the most part. One or two moments give an all-too-brief glimpse of how things could have been accentuated and presented, including a moment that shows Jenny Pen literally looming large over the leads, but most of the film, but there isn't enough of them to add to what should be an atmosphere of oppressive and smothering horror.
This is a good one to watch, particularly if you're a fan of either, or both, of the leads. It's not great though, and it's disappointingly unwilling, or unable, to use the premise in a way that effectively comments on anything other than the ongoing battle of wills between a bully and his victims.
6/10
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