After the coincidence of two movies about unexpected pregnancy (Waitress, Knocked Up) recently opening two weeks apart, Hallam Foe is the first of two films arriving within a fortnight (Disturbia follows) that feature a 17-year-old male voyeur as the central character.

Seven years after his eye- catching screen debut in Billy Elliot, Jamie Bell gives his most impressive performance to date as the eponymous protagonist. Hallam Foe is introduced as a troubled teen in a treehouse on the Scottish Highlands estate of his father (Ciaran Hinds). The boy is traumatised by his mother's recent drowning and, in an echo of Hamlet, he is convinced that his stepmother (Claire Forlani) was responsible for her death.

Moving to Edinburgh, Hallam gets work in the kitchens of a hotel, where he becomes obsessed with the personnel manager, Kate (Sophia Myles), who eerily resembles his mother. His voyeuristic tendencies have been established in an early scene where he trains his binoculars on a couple making love al fresco. Now Hallam goes to extremes, taking considerable personal and physical risks as he scales precarious heights to observe Kate's domestic and sexual life.

Based on a novel by Scottish author Peter Jinks, Hallam Foe was adapted by David Mackenzie, who directed, and Ed Whitmore. They wrote it specifically with Bell in mind, and he responds with a vibrant portrayal of the disturbed teenager, subtly capturing his gradual transition from hopelessly vulnerable and intense to self-sufficient and even charming. And there is an unexpected tenderness in the rapport Bell and Myles bring to the tentative relationship between their characters.

Mackenzie, who directed Young Adam, laces the intriguing, pleasingly unpredictable drama with streaks of dark humour. He makes distinctive use of Edinburgh locations and gothic architecture, as observed from Hallam's rooftop vantage point. An agreeably diverse soundtrack culled from the Domino Records label enhances the experience and culminates in Franz Ferdinand's performance of Hallam Foe Dandelion Blow over the animated closing credits.

Note:Showing with Hallam Foe is Teeth, which won the Tiernan MacBride Award for best Irish short at Galway Film Fleadh last month. A brief black-and- white vignette directed by Ruairi O'Brien and John Kennedy, it features Niall Toibin and Niall O'Brien as two men in a boat and involves a joke that backfires in an amusing visual gag.