Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on January 2011

Incendiary: © 2008 CHANNEL FOUR TELEVISION CORPORATION / INCENDIARY LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

A working-class British woman’s (Michelle Williams) husband and young son are killed in a massive terrorist attack on a soccer stadium while she is at home in the arms of a neighbor (Ewan McGregor) in this thriller/romance/psychological portrait. The movie doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be, and ends up collapsing under the weight of its own ambitions. A pair of subplots—the woman’s friendship with the son of one of the suicide bombers, and a smarmy suitor—are either unlikely or just distracting. Still, this is Michelle’s movie, and her performance alone is worth the price of admission.