2 March 2001

THE NOT BAD: It coulda been a contendah. But The Mexican is an 80 percent movie in a genre that demands 95 percent to really take off. Make no mistake, some people are going to capital L love this movie. It is fun. It is quirky. It has two movie stars who get to light it up, even as they play against type for much of the film. It has James Gandolfini stealing every scene as a hit man with a secret. And it has all the makings of a great movie fable.

So what went wrong?

It's hard to say from one screening, to tell you the truth. I will see this movie again. What is clear is that the rhythm never quite settles in, except for the magical last 10 minutes or so. (If you hate everything before the last 10 minutes, no, you will not change your mind based on it and you'll discount even that last 10 minutes.) The first thing that I always look at when I feel a film is missing the beat it set for itself is the editing. But I never could get a clear picture of anything being wrong with Craig Wood's cutting on the picture. Somewhat unsettling was the choice by director Gore Verbinski and cinematographer Dariusz Wolski to shoot Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt without any of the careful lighting that movie stars usually get. But I wasn't sure that was it either.

And then it hit me… the music. Here you have two movies in one. Half the film is a wild, balls out farce. The other half is a screwball comedy. By the end, the twain shall meet. But in the meanwhile, Alan Silvestri's score seems to be an homage to some of the more lyrical scores from south of the border films of the past, most clearly, Orson Welles' Touch of Evil. But it's completely wrong for this movie. And Silvestri is an absolute genius at picking up on genre themes and finding ways to push them past the obvious. So why not this time? I don't know. Maybe he went in direction that the director really, really, really wanted him to go. The thing is, I might well enjoy the score on its own. It's not a bad score. It just doesn't fit.

So, would a score change make The Mexican into the movie I think it could have been… a classic comedy? I don't know. I have to see it again, at least once. The frustrating thing is that Pitt makes a great comic screw-up. He showed it in True Romance, raised the stakes in Snatch and should have owned the category after this. Roberts is paying against her normal role of being the nice one and manages to bring the character around against all odds. And Gandolfini is flawless.

The Mexican should have been one of the best movies of 2001. Instead, it is one of the okay ones. Unfortunate.

THE UGLY: When I start apologizing every day, I know that something is wrong. And it has been. I have been way too lax about basic stuff in this column in recent weeks and all I can do is apologize (again) and make sure that I make a greater effort in the days to come. Lew Irwin syndicates to a lot of places, but he's no Lew Harris, Editor-in-Chief of iFilm. Raw Deal's subtitle is "A Question of Consent," not "A Case of Rape." And on reflection, that rumor about Tom Cruise was really about James Spader. (HAH! Gotcha. There was no rumor. I'm not a total f-up.)

GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: The American Cinematheque is doing a retrospective of the work of Javier Bardem. And both Javier and I will be there. Of course, he's the only one anyone actually cares about seeing. He will introduce Ecstacy and Golden Balls on Monday, March 12 @ 7:00 & 9:30 PM. Then, on the 14^th, he'll be there for a screening of Before Night Falls, my #1 movie of 2000. For more info, go to www.egyptiantheatre.com.

JUST WONDERING: Does anyone else remember the song that Ray Bolger was second most famous for singing?

BAD AD WATCH: The new "everybody's talking about it" ads for Traffic are masterfully made. However, has anyone else noticed that Oscar nominee Benicio Del Toro is all but missing from the spot? (He appears in the background of a shot while someone gets taken away in the center of the frame for about 1 second.) Michael Douglas, Don Cheadle and Catherine Zeta-Jones all get three featured, close-up appearances. Bully for them, but isn't Del Toro even worth pushing? How many ads promote Best Screenplay and don't even mention the one actor nominated? Weird.

Meanwhile, Miramax has cooked up a spot for Chocolat that features Juliette Binoche, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, Lasse Hallstrom and David Brown, all spouting off about the glorious artistry associated with this movie and then tag it with the only pull-quote… "Celebrate the film Joel Siegel calls, `Delicious!' " Yick!!! First, it's Joel Siegel. Second, it's a pull-quote that smells of pull-quote, not art. Blech.

READER OF THE DAY: The Wite One: "Although it's so subtle that it may take two viewings to catch all the nuances, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has all the texture and weight of, say, Sense and Sensibility. In fact, Ang Lee has worn himself out calling CTHD "Sense and Sensibility with swords," almost to his disadvantage -- CTHD is perhaps too like his Austen adaptation in its basic character relationships and observations on the restrictions of "proper" society. Although Chow and Yeoh are both directed to underact their roles, the best determination of character is the choices that character has to make, and there's far too much there to dismiss them as "ciphers." CTHD isn't mawkish, but it's certainly sentimental and even romantic in its portrayal of its older leads. And I can't imagine anyone considering Jen or Lo thinly drawn; they had one of the best, most heart-rending on-screen romances in years.

What's groundbreaking about CTHD is its popularity, not the movie in and of itself -- although it is true that a lot of Asian action directors don't always have access to the quality of equipment (film stock, FX computers, etc.) that Lee does. But the above argument also applies to all those naysayers who pick on CTHD because they like The Bride with White Hair so much; part of why CTHD has caught on the way it has on this continent is because it features Ang Lee's approach to storytelling -- it's a familiar and, to be honest, Oscar-friendly approach. He's made the wuxia (i.e., martial arts fantasy/wire fu) style of filmmaking accessible to American audiences, but I'd say he definitely hasn't "sold out" the genre to do so.

I reside in Madison, Wis., and there's a Hong Kong film festival this weekend that culminates with the wuxia masterpiece Ashes of Time, from Wong Kar-Wai (Chungking Express, In the Mood for Love). I've seen it, but only on a somewhat-poor video. It's going to be a packed house; if CHTD has opened the door for a broader audience to come and appreciate it, all the better."

E ME: Go For It.