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I found this
film to be, above all else, sad.
Sad because
I have long been a Clint Eastwood fan, in front of
and particularly behind the camera.
I remember when Hollywood wrote him off after the three-movie
run of Pink Cadillac, White Hunter, Black Heart
and The Rookie. But
I was still a believer in Eastwood and I was rewarded by a
magnificent run of Unforgiven, In The Line of Fire,
A Perfect World (huge overseas, in particular) and The
Bridges of Madison County. Then came a more unfortunate run of Absolute
Power, True Crime and Space Cowboys. But for me, Blood Work is the low point in Eastwood’s career.
Eastwood
has always been a simple director.
He shoots great actors delivering great lines and makes
them the old-fashioned way, clean and on-schedule.
But when he has set up his simple shots, he has shown
extraordinary taste. Look at the good run… Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Richard Harris,
John Malkovich, Kevin Costner and Meryl Streep. Even in his bad run after that… Hackman, Ed
Harris, Scott Glenn, Dennis Haysburt, Judy Davis, Laura Linney,
James Woods, Isaiah Washington, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Diane Venora,
Donald Sutherland, Tommy Lee Jones, James Garner, etc,
etc, etc.
Eastwood
has also had a wonderful sense of darkness, from the precursor
of Fatal Attraction, Play Misty For Me, to the Dirty
Harry series to Tightrope to Bird, Eastwood
has been willing to look at the dirty side of American life
without flinching.
Blood
Work is just a walk in the park… he’s hired some good actors,
but they are wasted. The
cinematography by first-time Tom Stern, a highly experience
lighting guy, is not on the same level as long-time Eastwood
D.P. Jack Green. With due respect to Tina Lifford, in
the old days, Eastwood would have been the guy to bring the
great New York actress Viola Davis to Hollywood.
Instead, Steven Soderbergh is going to get credit
for hiring her for Solaris.
Worse, I
knew, without knowing the book or reading any notes, exactly
where the story was going, who did the murder and why, within
about 10 minutes. How? Because nothing in
a film just happens to be there.
There is always a reason.
And in the absence of a reason being given by the film,
the reason must be the punchline. I don’t want to give the film’s secrets away…
some of you will see it and there are a number of critics
who liked the film… but Eastwood on top of his game wouldn’t
have made it so easy or so painful to watch as the characters
squirmed around the obvious for a full hour before catching
on.
Eastwood
has been a great actor and director.
And he may deliver another great film some day.
But about now, I feel like its time for the big man
to move along. And that is, for me, extraordinarily sad.
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