|
SECRETARY is the Maggie Gyllenhaal vehicle with James
Spader riding shotgun.
Truth is, despite other actors, it is a two person
movie.
Watch Maggie
masturbate. Watch
James make Maggie bend over a table.
Spank Maggie, Jimmy, spank Maggie until she comes.
Watch James masturbate.
Watch Maggie cut herself.
This was
pretty much a one-act told in three long acts.
As a 20 minute short, it might have been sensational. The question of what the heart and body wants and whether we have
any control of our carnal souls is an interesting one. And you had two good actors to explore it.
Ms. Gyllenhaal
has a really interesting face… one that travels from childlike
to sensual to sexual to idiotic and back again without the
wheels ever leaving the ground. There is no one body part that stands out as
extraordinary… the pieces are lovely and work as parts of
whole, but she’s no T&A girl.
But when she is emotionally present in a scene, she
is sexy as hell. Her ass, her nipples, her lips all drawing the male viewer in with
some degree of surprise.
What she wants, when she wants it, is so simple that
it compels with more intensity than seems to fit.
But it does.
Spader is
on more traditional ground here as an uptight control freak. And again, in a shorter film, he would have been perfect. As it is, the film doesn’t have enough of a
third act to allow him to really explore the range of his
character the way I would have liked.
Secretary is a piffle. I
didn’t hate it. And
I wouldn’t have been upset if the film had broken and the
last 30 minutes were forever lost to me.
Maggie G is a charmer, but like her brother Jake, she
may be hard to cast in the right roles. I would be looking for a sitcom role if I were
her… build up a career and then go after the film business. She may be the new Parker Posey. But that has been a bumpier road for Ms. Posey
than expected.
|
