Peacock

source: Peacock

Peacock is a very interesting, and original film. It tells the story of a small town bank clerk named John Skillpa, who has a very big secret. Little do his fellow towns people know that John also has a split personality, that happens to be a female. This causes him to dress as a woman to do chores for John, and to also cook him breakfast every morning. After a freak train accident in his front yard during his daily chores, he finds himself having to work extra hard to hide his other half from the towns people, and at the same time, trying to stay on top of the ongoing battle between his two halves. Let me start by saying, this movie is far from a easy watch. Before I felt comfortable reviewing it, I ended up watching it a total of three times. It tends to leave a lot of questions to be answered by the audience on their own without ever confirming it within the film itself. So your first time through, you may find yourself confused to some degree. The acting in this movie is pretty amazing especially the lead Cillian Murphy playing both the role of John and his other personality Emma. In a time of endless remakes and cookie cutter scripts, Peacock is a very nice change of pace if you're willing to watch it with a open mind, and give something different a shot. This film won't be for everyone and honestly its more drama slash thriller than horror, but in the end I recommend you at least try to make it through it, and if you manage to do that you'll be rewarded with a real treat. 5/10 - Ritualistic The Liberal Dead http://liberaldead.blogspot.com

Oh my... this movie is quite disturbing. it's a story about a guy with two personalities- one is a man, and the other- a woman (what a shocker). of course it all has it's roots in his childhood. he leads a secret life, trying to stay out of site. and so we see how this quiet man's life begins to get even more complicated when his second personality is about to get a little more public. and what a disturbing journey that is... i mean it has some strong points- Cillian Murphy does a wonderful job, his acting is astonishing. I don't know what it is, maybe the script itself, but i couldn't stop thinking "wtf?!?!" every minute of the movie. of course you can't help yourself and compare it to psycho, and every time you compare something to an immortal classic, it's bound to look bad. but truly, the badness of the movie does not come from this comparison. it comes from the fact, that the plot is utterly terrible and pointless- half way through i began to wonder- where the hell could all this lead? the answer, is of course- nowhere. anyway- kudos for Murphy, watching him perform is the only thing that could persuade anyone to watch the movie till the end. and he makes such a beautiful woman, too.

Cillian Murphy is really good in this. I actually can almost not think of another actor playing this particular role. It is very demanding and he goes places that I'm sure some people wouldn't dare go (or follow him for that reason). It really is a good movie. A weird little story with great actors all over the place. I especially loved the ending, though they seemed to be unsure of how to go, since there are alternate endings on the disc. Very slow and very uncomfortable to watch, it is something that I hope will be cherished by quite a few people. Even if it only gets a home entertainment release (like in Germany) and does not see the light of the cinemas. I dare you to watch it

It is always amazing to me how (1) movie companies can pass off such slop to the public and (2) how such monumentally talented, experienced and discriminating actors such as Susan Sarandon, Keith Carradine and Bill Pullman can be convinced to participate in said slop. Cillian Murphy and Ellen Page are wasted in this film. The writing, direction and acting are dreadful, and the entire effort reminded me of an experimental, indulgent student film. The storyline is absurd. Cillian Murphy plays a deeply disturbed man who was abused as a child and expresses his resulting split personality by dressing as a woman. As a man (John), his behavior on the job -- he is a bank clerk -- is so bizarre, but yet tolerated by his boss (Pullman) and the bank's president (Carradine), who is also the mayor, and the bank president's wife (Sarandon). In a real-life situation, these folks would recognize that John is psychotic, but here everyone acts as though he is a normal as blueberry pie! When John's female alter-ego (Emma) emerges (actor Cillian in a wig, makeup and dress who looks like character John in a wig, makeup and dress -- and, actually, somewhat disturbingly like a young Mia Farrow), no one -- the boss, bank president, bank president's wife, and the Ellen Page character -- recognizes that John and Emma are the same person. The scenes in which all these characters interact with John and Emma are laughable because it is so apparent to the audience that these two are the same person. What is even more hilarious is that John and Emma never appear together although they are supposed to be man and wife. Hmm, let's examine the clues. There are two endings, each one perplexing, as is the entire film and why it was made. If you want to be entertained by a psychological thriller in which a young man becomes psychotic because his mother drove him nuts, take another look at the outstanding classic, "Psycho," and skip this brain drain.

This film is about a young man whose life is radically changed by the death of his mother. "Peacock" seems very slow at first, but as the story progresses, it becomes so captivating. The story follows John and the split personality called Emma. The two personalities fight with each other to control the situation. The abrupt ending encourages viewers to think hard about what happens in the film and makes viewers postulate what would happen next. It's clever story telling. Acting by Cillian Murphy is amazing, he is so at ease as Emma and so nervous as John. The subject matter of "Peacock" may limit its popularity, which is a pity as this intriguing drama deserves wider recognition.

Some will compare this movie to "Psycho" and while it borrows some elements, it is a quite different story. Some reviews have the movie set in the 1950s, and that is what I first thought, but the car he drives looks like a mid-1960s to early 1970s Chevy. Cillian Murphy is John Skillpa, lives alone, works in a bank, and has a very tightly scheduled routine. To say he is obsessive-compulsive is to greatly understate his situation. He has a very rigid conversational tone and seldom looks anyone in the eye. In quick flashbacks as the movie begins we see a somewhat troubled childhood, perhaps even child-abuse at the hands of his mother, who died only a year ago. But we also see Emma Skillpa, living alone there. "She" is also played by Cillian Murphy. Emma cooks breakfast each morning, puts a plate over it, then goes upstairs, then at precisely 8:15AM John comes down to eat and go to work. Emma wears a dark wig, makeup, and a long dress but only comes out into the back yard to hang laundry, and no one else has ever seen her. Until a train caboose derails and crashes into the back yard. Then she is required to confront the public and a soft-spoken, self-assured woman emerges. Ellen Page is Maggie, a local young lady with a young son, wanting to get out of Peacock, Nebraska. Susan Sarandon is Fanny Crill, activist and wife of the mayor. Keith Carradine is her husband, Mayor Ray Crill. Josh Lucas is police Officer Tom McGonigle. And Bill Pullman is John's supervisor at work, Edmund French. The story gets complex and you never really know where it is going next. The best reason to see it is for the performance of Cillian Murphy as both John and Emma. MAJOR SPOILERS: John and Emma are the same person, but with two distinctly different personalities and motives. They don't appear to know what the other is going to do, or has just done in that guise. Emma is apparently John channeling his dead mother. It turns out that Maggie's son is John's, a product of a wild night facilitated by John's mother two years earlier, probably in her own madness as a way to get John "to be a man." Emma fakes John's death, and is set up to try to adopt the boy, but she (he) realizes that the boy is not safe, he might meet the same fate that John did growing up, so Emma gives Maggie money and a ride to get her and the boy out of town and with relatives.

This was quite a strange, intriguing, disturbing and sad character study about a man with a split personality disorder created after his abusive mother passes away and gets worse after a train crashes in on his secret world. I thought Cillian Murphy did an fantastic, Oscar worthy performance as the damaged individual with the disorder as well as a solid supporting cast but this is definitely his movie. At first I thought that the town was going to figure it out that he is living two lives as a man and a woman but he effortlessly fools them and bewitches them and I'm just baffled that they couldn't figure it out. As the film goes along it gets more and more complexed and you soon find both of his different personalities plotting against each other which was a crazy and bizarre plot turn that I really didn't expect to happen but it was very interesting and kept me glued to the screen in its mystery. The one thing that kept me from giving it an higher rating was the lousy and anti-climatic ending which pretty much made the viewing pointless and it made me frustrated and disappointed. Overall it wasn't awful but it really needed a better ending but definitely worth renting for Cillian Murphy's brave performance, other than that it's really not a must see. More of a 2.5 out of 5 stars.

The film itself probably doesn't rate more than 3.5 stars because the plot of "Peacock" strains credibility a bit, but not nearly as much as it might have without Cillian Murphy's fantastic 5-star performance. In this film, he proves himself an actor with great scope and depth. We learn at the outset (thus no spoiler here) that Murphis playing two characters, alternatively adopting the personality of an obviously dysfunctional young man during workaday hours as a bank file clerk--with a notable performance by Bill Pullman as his supervisor--and then transforming into his mysterious female counterpart, each living separate but connected lives in the same house. I'll say no more about the plot other than that it's a very original story, with appropriate nods to a few classics. This is no "Tootsie" or "Some Like It Hot" cross-dressing story. This film and Murphy's performance are equally compelling and memorable. See it.

This is a film which can give you extreme frustration if you are not one of those who take any damn thing as an piece of art. This film is based on a character called John Skillpa, who is facing psychological problems due to continuous torture he has undergone since his childhood by his mother. This guy works in a bank and he is very particular about his work. When at home his another personality i.e. his imaginary wife Emma takes control of him and he dresses like a lady and starts doing house work. There is one lady in life who's having a birth certificate which has his name on it as father & she tells Emma(John when in Lady form)that john mother forced her to do it sometime back. This mess continues and some other people participate to keep it running like Bank officer, Local social workers. cop etc etc and finally Emma thinks of terminating John and with an arranged incident she kills a guy on one motel and make it appear like John is dead. With some more boring things ahead film ends all of a sudden giving a hint as if John is back in Emma at the end. As per my understanding the message out of this film was to show the impact on one's personality and mental conditions due to childhood abuse which is shown quiet effectively and actor has done full justice to his role, but the storyline is so weak and unexplained that viewer remains clueless and unanswered for so many questions that rise in his mind throughout the movie. If you want a movie which gives your brain less stress and nice story then I would suggest stay away from this.