The name's Unknown...Really Unknown

It is an irony of life that the best things come terribly packaged. Nutritious food, good advice, babies. The 2004 British drug mafia thriller, Layer Cake, is no different. Now, mind you, 2004 was when Daniel Craig wasn’t the ‘quantum’ star he is now, British films were at best obscurely cult-ish (case in point : Trainspotting) and Tokyo Drift style music hadn’t made it big. Yet, this small budget movie took the, er, cake, for its exceptional execution.

Based on debutante novelist JJ Connelly's book of the same name (he also wrote the screenplay), it stars Daniel Craig as a quiet now-you-see-him-now-you-don't 29-year-old drug middleman who has made it big. Now, he wants to do a quick disappearing act with enough retirement money before his 30th birthday, never to return to the scenes of the crime. Except things are getting a bit disorganized on the British organized drug scene. When boss asks Craig to do him a favour and locate a fellow drug lord's wayward daughter, his plan is quickly postponed. His search goes awry as the missing chic's dad decides Craig is the bad guy. Enter stage right - pompous wannabe drug guru who steals a pot load of A class ecstasy meant for ethic wars by Serbians. And now, the Serbs (represented by a Sauron voiced bloke who goes by the name Dragon) want Craig. So, yada yada, plot thickens, blah blah blah, and at the end there is a heavy duty speech about life being a layer cake. The title, also spelt L4YER CAK3 - simply to up the obscurity quotient I suspect, is hence explained, although its a bit too obvious for this otherwise symbolically subtle movie.

And then you have your standard organized crime movie fare – Ramsay’s favourite word liberally sprinkled, a delicious dollop of PYT in the form of Sienna Miller gyrating to Kylie and undressing to Gimme Shelter and of course lotsa chases in empty warehouses on seriously snazzy wheels.

But the beauty of this 90 minute Craig feast isn't in the plot, as racy as it is. It's in the narration, first hand by Craig whose name remains unspoken and unknown throughout the movie. Its in the broad spectrum view of the multimillion drug industry, its role in modern politics and lifestyles and in the absolutely fantastic background score. And the acting is surprisingly flawless.

Unfortunately, it drags a tad midway, it overdoes Daniel Craig charging into banquets, hotels, bedrooms suited and booted (suits me just fine but the boys get cranky) and there are a couple of very obvious flaws in the editing. No matter, it wraps up gorgeously, in plot and direction, the closing scene dramatic and replete with the strains of Joe Cocker’s Misunderstood.

The reason why I called this movie badly packaged is that it's sold all wrong. Have a peek at the official web site and posters. It isn't meant to be commercial, and it isn't meant to be a thriller. Its meant to be a quiet movie you watch at the end of a long day, preceded by even longer days, when silent ennui is creeping up on you and when you want to be smacked by the irony and desperation of the times we live in. A movie you then suggest to others and smugly discuss among those who have not seen it.

Every cult movie buff worth his <insert choice of substance abuse> had better get their torrent right now.

You'll like this if you like : Daniel Craig, Trainspotting, Memento, Donnie Darko, Pulp Fiction, Scarface, Phone Booth, Godfather, Payback, movies that play around with life and death philosophies.

You won't like this if you don't like : Any of the above, not so clean scripts, nil comedy movies.