I Start Counting (1970)

Overrated

Awesome Movie

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The plot for "I Start Counting" sounds rather interesting when you read about it on IMDb: "A 14-year-old girl coming to terms with her sexuality, discovers that her adored older brother may be guilty of a series of bizarre sex crimes.". However this really isn't what the movie is all about and it also has a really creepy semi- incestuous and Electra Complex-like theme that put me off.Jenny Agutter plays Wynne--a 14 year-old. She was actually about 18 when she made the film. Wynne is really, really obsessed about her older step-brother...to the point where she has lots of incestuous thoughts. These are not in an of themselves THAT creepy...but he's more than twice her age and this brings the notion of pedophilia if he were to reciprocate. Either way, it's awfully weird and disturbing. As far as the step-brother killing women...well that's all a misunderstanding that Wynne develops and the film really is about her awakening sexual desires (such as her masturbating) and her misguided affections. Creepy and yet oddly boring in spite of all this and I had to really struggle to pay attention to all this. All in all, a waste of my time, though I guess technically it's well made.

I became acquainted with Jenny Agutter a few years ago when I saw her in "Walkabout", playing an Australian child that ran away into the brush with her younger brother after their depressed father tried to kill them. This movie actually predates that one by a couple of years, and is set in England.Jenny Agutter is Wynne, a 15-yr-old school girl in a blended family. Her dad had died some years earlier and he mum remarried a man with a 32-yr-old son. The son is Bryan Marshall as George. The actors playing these two main characters were very near the correct ages.Wynne as pubescent girls often do becomes infatuated with this "older" man, who still lives with them at home. She has the idea that when she gets old enough to marry they can be a couple. She muses that when she is 20 he will almost be 40. She even has daydreams about him kissing her, or walking in while she is in the bathtub.But George is not at all interested in this young virgin girl, he really does seem to treat her as his own little sister. Then something happens, a young girl is found dead in the pond near their old home, Wynne notices a few suspicious things about George, some scratches on his back and some blood on a sweater, and she begins to suspect that he is the killer. But she has no desire to turn him in, she wants to take care of him, "protect" him from those who might want to harm him.So most of the story has Wynne going around being a Nancy Drew of sorts, but out of infatuation for George, not so much to solve a crime.Young Agutter is very good, and in spite of its 40+ years of age plays very well still. I enjoyed it, as a character study of Wynne and he coming of age..SPOILERS: Eventually all the clues about George are explained, and he is pretty much what he seems to be, but also spends lots of time in secret with a suicidal woman to help get her better. George is not at all interested in Wynne or her friends as anything romantic. The bad guy turns out to be the young conductor on the bus they take home from school, he seems to have an obsession with "bad" girls, and Wynne's friend was a flirty girl that always wore very short skirts.

A 14-year old Catholic girl Wynne(Jenny Agutter)falls in love with her older adoptive brother.Her crush is growing stronger as she believes that he is the local sex killer of young girls."I Start Counting" is a subtle exploitation film which touches several taboo subject matters including incest,drugs,rape and teenage sexuality.The story is fascinating and often confusing and the film is full of symbolism.The purity and innocence of Wynne slowly becomes corrupted.The girl believes she sees the statue of Jesus in church weeping blood.The climax of "I Start Counting" is very powerful and memorable.Along with "Night After Night After Night" a forgotten genre essential from late 60's.8 out of 10.

Interesting and attractive ambiance in place of a plot. Adaptation of Audrey Erskine-Lindop's novel concerning a Catholic schoolgirl in working-class Berskhire who is drawn to the now-abandoned first house she lived in with her adoptive family; she also harbors a secret crush on her foster-brother, whom she believes may be a sex-slayer wanted by police, and proceeds to cover up his suspicious tracks while dreaming of a more intimate relationship. In the lead, open-faced, yearning Jenny Agutter has wonderfully wide, girlish eyes and shy smiles; from the opening montage of her daily early-morning routine, Agutter connects with the audience immediately, and she's a joy to follow throughout this character study-cum-psychological drama. Producer-director David Greene is alternately subtle and heavy-handed, telegraphing a few story-points well ahead of schedule, but his lazily-flowing narrative is enticing in an ethereal way. The film has nimble editing and a sing-song theme, yet the screenplay is a real obstacle. While packing so much text and subtext into the first hour, the second-half of the picture comes up short on steam. Nevertheless, quite unusual, with haunting, lovely moments and a solid cast. ** from ****