Risky, risky shots is what Anthony Minghella and his team have achieved here. Things that belong far away from the the classy style of "The talented Mr. Ripley" and the classic style of "Cold Mountain". There's also a risky screenplay, an original one by the director that also stands on a different level compared to his previous adapted efforts. But what a way to keep up the good work the man has!
This is because there are things that also remain the same; the kind of things that define a director's work: like actors direction. You really need to watch Jude Law in an Anthony Minghella film because the director has made him portray all sorts of things, but here you can catch him as an everyday man, and sense his reactions to the dramatic and comic situations in a way he's not shown before. Instantly compared to "Closer", Law's work here is much more mature.
He plays Will Francis, an architect that has a project and office in a not so safe place of London: King's Cross. Now, I lived in London for six months and most of the places are known to me, but I'd never seen them from Minghella's perspective here. There's a robbery in the film and Will chases the aggressor, a kid, and after a series of events ends up involved with his mom Amira, played by Juliette Binoche...Yes, involved like the "Closer" type of involvement.
Maybe it's because Juliette Binoche can play any character and resolve any scene, but putting her character and Law's together in such a common place as the Millennium Bridge doesn't sound good with a simple look. However, in that scene Will attempts to kiss Amira; the way she rejects that kiss and the tiny instant which shows Will's afterthoughts, eliminates every other possibility and makes something good of the scene.
"Breaking and entering" is a movie about decisions, but the decisions are not evidently presented and they're not necessarily life-changing. I remember the actions of Patrick Marber's characters in "Closer", so brilliantly ruthless, but not very explained. Minghella's screenplay here leaves the viewer no doubt that every action done by every character is justified.
The kid, Miro (a promising Rafi Gavron), robs an office because he needs to prove something to himself; a detective (unexpected Ray Winstone) looks for him and tries to talk about the issue because he senses the boy has some good inside him; Will does what he does (the good and the bad) because he's a kind person; his wife (Robin Wright Penn) makes a choice because she understands.
And Amira, she's like every other mother that will go to end of the world for his son...Not caring if he's right or wrong. Mother's love is impossible to explain.