The Harvest

The illegal trade in body parts stands as a metaphor for the exploitative nature of Hollywood film-making in this flashy conspiracy thriller from debut director David Marconi. Playing fast and loose with traditional narrative structures, Marconi throws in flashbacks, dream sequences and episodes that could equally be real or simply part of wannabe writer Miguel Ferrer's latest screenplay. However, for all the intricacy of the plotting and the beauty of Emmanuel Lubezki's photography, too little attention is paid to either theme or characterisation, with the result that intriguing ideas are neglected and heroes and villains alike remain rigidly one-dimensional.