Eliminate: Archie Cookson

A Real Estate Agent Pictures production. (Worldwide sales: Seven & Seven, London.) Created by Ioanna Karavella. Executive producer, David Bunker. Directed, compiled by Take advantage of Holder.With: Paul Rhys, Claire Skinner, Paul Ritter, Georgia King, Ewan Stewart, Nicholas Day, Phillip Manikum, Richard Cambridge, Freddy Downham, Juan Herrera, Gabriel Vick, Marc Danbury.An ambitious Brit indie that does not quite satisfy the anticipation it boosts, "Eliminate: Archie Cookson" begins like a droll sad-sack spin on spy spoofery, but through the finish has moved from comedy toward a dramatic heft its spindly legs can't support. That can be a awkward tonal mix ultimately creates an offbeat curio as opposed to a fully satisfying evening out, d.p.-switched-author-helmer Take advantage of Holder's debut feature remains a directing harbinger of better try to come. Offshore home-format sales look likely. Title figure (Paul Rhys, in the first bigscreen lead since 2002's "Food of affectionInch) is really a failure by any standard, particularly those of his ex-wife, Camilla (Claire Skinner). Once an Intelligence Dept. up-and-comer, he's now slunk sufficiently lower the ladder to keep his position -- nowadays nothing more than office hard work -- exclusively because of pitying, influential in-laws and regulations. While former spouse and horribly precocious boy Hector (Freddy Downham) still occupy tony digs and social status, Archie stays nights consuming in the dreary flat, days sleepwalking through Russian-to-British translation responsibilities. He's literally asleep at work (declined from sight within an audio transcription booth) when assassins with silencers gun lower his co-employees over some missing old Cold War audiotapes that may compromise the integrity of government, in addition to two seniors gentlemen spymasters (Philip Manikum, Nicholas Day). The 2 coolly choose that Archie -- who presently has the incriminating reels in the possession -- must die too, dispatching veteran Ennis (Paul Burns) to complete the deed. Consider Ennis and Archie were co-workers in better days, Ennis gives him 24 hrs to come back the products and hopefully save their own existence. Naturally, everything doesn't go as planned, though once "Eliminate" becomes a comparatively straightforward espionage film, its financial and imaginative restrictions be apparent. What begins out like a dry sendup of "The Spy Who Arrived In the Cold"-type mellers develops continuously less comedy, and with no emotional weight or clever, suspenseful twists required to in the narrative ante. Particularly, the film takes too seriously the protag's associations with Camilla and new squeeze Lucy (Georgia King), a rather ditzy bombshell of suspect loyalties. The finale flirts with tragedy, however the lightweight pic can't handle it. You will find enough appealing elements here to create one want a remake that properly balances the seriocomedy, ideally hewing more toward the ironic, satirical tenor David Hamill's score (breezily nodding to '60s genre photos) keeps throughout. Holder demonstrates a sure hands together with his accomplished cast, a pleasant sense of deadpan scene pacing, as well as an ease using the bricks-and-mortar facets of creating a modest enterprise seem like a more expensive one. Rhys is definitely watchable, however the show is fairly well stolen by Burns, whose American-highlighted friendly foe improves fair-to-good material having a very funny mixture of deep-dyed cynicism and unpredicted hominess.Camera (color, HD), Stein Stie editor, Valentina Riva music, David Hamill production designer, Nicola Dietmann art director, Tanya Burns costume designer, Amanda Hambleton seem, Daniel Chu Owen seem designers, Mark Kenna, Alex Hudd visual effects supervisor, James Cost assistant director, Simon Haveland casting, Camilla Evans. Examined on DVD, Bay Area, March. 4, 2011. (In Mill Valley Film Festival -- World Cinema Montreal World Film Festival.) Running time: 87 MIN. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com