Arlington Road:

Starring Jeff Bridges, Tim Robbins, Joan Cusack and Hope Davis. Rated M.

MICHAEL Faraday is a recently widowed university lecturer doing his best to raise his young son following the death-in-the-line-of-duty of his FBI-agent wife. He lives in a safe, secure, middle-American, Washington suburb, commuting each day to his safe, secure, middle-American job.

One day, on his way home from just another ordinary day at the office, his life is suddenly turned upside down when he finds a kid in his street bleeding profusely from a badly damaged hand. The subsequent race to hospital and the emotional meeting with the kids parents sets Michael to thinking how sad it is that he could live his life in his safe, secure, middle-American, Washington suburb and not even know the name of the kid he just saved who lives just across the street.

His relationship with his new neighbours gets off to a flying start now that he is a hero to the kid and his parents. His own son finds an instant best friend in the recuperating kid while the adults exchange pleasantries over a homely back-yard barbecue.

But all this domestic bliss is not as it appears (otherwise we wouldn't have a plot would we).

Discouraged by friends and acquaintances against pursuing an obviously paranoid suspicion against his new friend and neighbour, Michael kicks into detective mode. His friends, and particularly his lovely girlfriend, see his obsession with neighbourhood watching as a symptom of his inability to cope with the grief following the killing of his wife mixed with natural paranoia and a belief in conspiracy theories stemming from his teachings in US domestic terrorism. Others are also all-too willing to believe that he somehow holds the FBI responsible for his wife's death.

Arlington Road is not very fast in its pace but extremely intense in its delivery. The opening sequence and credit-role are so stylised and unnerving as to bring a knot to the stomach, dissipating slowly in the first 20 minutes only to return with ever increasing intensity for the rest of the movie.

Those of you who know me through this column will know that I have one or two pet hates when it comes to American movies. And, with Jeff Bridges on board, I had preconceived reservations about Arlington Road. I am glad to report that this is one Hollywood blockbuster that attempted to break the formula mould, especially in its climax, and succeeds. Even her indoors was having heart palpitations.