 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||
Week Of August 20, 2007 - Mon / 10 Year Wed / Fri
August 24, 2007
One For Them
It was kind of fascinating, seeing two films in two days with work from extremely talented men that were both so clearly a choice to “do one for them.”
One was Fracture, the months old New Line film with Anthony Hopkins and starring Oscar nominee and hot-as-hell could-be-superstar Ryan Gosling. The interesting one was not Hopkins, a fine actor who sleepwalks through paydays often, this time going nicely low key while sporting one twist, a peek-a-boo Irish accent.
It was Gosling who shocked and amazed me… because he sucked. I mean, the guy just doesn’t have this gear. You know the one… good looking leading man with a hint of a twist, just enough to make being the straight man until the very end of the third act a pleasant experience for the audience. The two performances that jumped to mind while watching Gosling flail were Richard Gere in Primal Fear and Keanu Reeves in The Devil’s Advocate. Both are very similar roles tonally and both actors, sometimes known to come across as flat, did it significantly better than Gosling. You could see Gosling trying. He would hang in the frame in some clever way or force eye contact that you might not expect from this kind of film or try some other kind of physicality. But it was almost like he was screaming, “Get me away from this set and that money and put me on Lars & The Real Girl now! I am not a movie star… I am actooooor!”
And for the first time in my experience of watching him work, I wonder whether he is, indeed, lacking the skills to be the biggest movie star in the world. Or maybe he has to decide, as Madonna never did, to let it go on screen when it is not a hard ass indie. I mean, he was painfully lacking charm in this film while he leaked it all over Half Nelson in what looked like absolute effortlessness… while playing a crackhead. So we know he can bring it. He did it in The Notebook in a more or less traditional stud role.
Next up, it’s Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh’s The Lovely Bones. Let’s see who shows up on this one. One thing is for sure… the whole world will be watching.
The other guy who delivered for the money men is the great – and I mean great… I consider him one of our finest working directors – Neil Jordan. The director has done some spectacular work on films like Breakfast On Pluto and The Good Thief, and The End of The Affair. But no one much saw them. His last real hit was 1994’s Interview With The Vampire.
But Jordan isn’t just going to take the money and run. You won’t see him shooting a Harry Potter or X-Men 4. His new film, The Brave One, teams him up with producer Joel Silver, who for his long history of excess, has to get enormous credit for seeking out interesting directors to get behind many of his genre projects. He worked with the Coen Bros. on The Hudsucker Proxy, helping them win their biggest budget (at least until recently) for the film (a decision they are said to regret, though the film is now being prepped for a potential Broadway musical). He launched and continues to produce the films of the Wachowski Bros. He hired French actor/director Mathieu Kassovitz to bring an international edge to Gothika. He backed Shane Black as a director as he had Stu Baird on Executive Decision. And though they failed, he tried directors like Jaume Collet-Serra and Oliver Hirschbiegel and has one coming from Spanish effects master Victor Garcia.
So now, it’s Neil Jordan and Oscar winner/hit maker Jodie Foster working with a cast filled with power actors, from Terrence Howard to Mary Steenburgen to indie beloveds Nicky Katt and Jane Adams. Jordan gets to work with the terrific D.P. Philippe Rousselot for the first time since Vampire while bringing along his regular cutter, Tony Lawson.
The Brave One, simply, is a rock solid genre vigilante piece with dozens of beautiful grace notes from Jordan, Foster, and the rest of the team that make it more than the sum of its initial expectations. Do you expect Alice In Wonderland to turn up subtly in a vigilante drama? Do you go in expecting one of Terrence Howard’s most assured, selfless skilled adult performances? And just how far do you expect Jodie Foster to go in appearing as raw and angular as you’ve ever seen her?
Interestingly, this film seems to fit the Foster oeuvre better than I ever imagined it would. It is, in a way, a reverse image of The Accused (directed by Jonathan Kaplan, who died of making too many films “for them” that then failed, Brokedown Palace being the final straw). In that Oscar winning performance, she was the victim who seemed undefensible… and lets one person in the system prove that she was. Her, she is a victim who is completely respectable… and takes matters into her own hands when it seems that the powers that be cannot get the job done. Similar themes, but a distinctly opposite tack almost 20 years later.
Another fascinating element – almost as fascinating for being nearly invisible – is the lack of color as an issue in the film by way of color permeating almost every element of the film. Jodie Foster is very white. But everyone else in the film – good, bad, or indifferent – seemed to part of some other part of the social rainbow… down to the gang tattoo on Nicky Katt’s neck, indicating so subtly that he had run with a bad and likely ethnic crowd in his past.
On the other hand… one could make the argument that the three main female speaking roles in the film are not only white women, but very white women (Foster, Steenburgen, Adams) and the two women of color with significance of any kind are both women who have experienced victimization and overcome in some way (to tell you more about either would mean spoilers). Is The Brave One about the fear of not just women, but specifically white women suffering white panic as their eyes open to the ugly world that is always nearby, even in “the safest big city in the world?”
I hope to discuss the issue with Mr. Jordan in Toronto in a couple of weeks.
And there will be a lot more to discuss about this film as it hits theaters. It is tough and challenging and twists and turns in ways that are not expected or obvious or easy. But it may well become a movie that generates a ton of discussion. And even if people decide to view it on the most simplistic level, it is quite likely to become a hit.
As a cherry on top, it is quite likely to be Neil Jordan’s biggest grosser since ’94. And it isn’t junk. It is a really well made, beautifully crafted film. It’s not a Neil Jordan film as those of us who love him have come to know them. It’s more like Neil Jordan taking a turn as Stephen Frears, one of the great craftsman directors of any era, able to bring it strong for the most ambitious and least ambitious projects equally. One this one, unless you are squeamish, everyone wins.
Week Of April 3, 2006 - Life In the Bubble - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of April 10, 2006 - List Week - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of April 17, 2006 - Review Week - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of April 24, 2006 - Overlooked Week - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of May 1, 2006 - Mystery Week - Tue / Wed / Fri
Week Of May 8, 2006 - How We Watch Week - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of May 15, 2006 - Premature Week - Oscar Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of May 22, 2006 - B-13 Mon / Inconvenient Wed / Fri
Week Of May 29, 2006 - Wed / Fri
Week Of June 5, 2006 - 666 Tue / Iraq Doc Wed / Seattle Fri
Week Of June 12, 2006 - SIFF Mon / SIFF Wed / Fri
Week Of June 19, 2006 - Cinevegas Mon/Deliver Us Wed/Prada Fri
Week Of June 26, 2006 - Pirates Mon / Super Again Wed / Fri
Week Of July 5, 2006 - Wed
Week Of July 12, 2006 - M. Night Mon | You, Me & Wed | Monster House Fri
Week Of July 17, 2006 - 8 A Year Mon / Water Wed / Revamp Fri
Week Of July 24, 2006 - Comic-Con Mon / Gossip Wed / Fri
Week Of July 31, 2006 - Mel G Mon / Talladega Wed / Fri
Week Of August 7, 2006 - Mon / Wed
Week Of August 14, 2006 - No Column Mon / Wed / Snakes Fri
Week Of August 21, 2006 - Snakey Mon / Anniversary Wed / Scoundrels Fri
Week Of August 28, 2006 - Mon Love / Berloff Wed / Fri
Week Of September 4, 2006 - Thur
Week Of September 11, 2006 - TIFF Mon / Bobby Wed / Fr
Week Of September 18, 2006 - Mon / TIFF 1 Wed / TIFF 2 Fri
Week Of September 25, 2006 - Mon / Wed
Week Of October 2, 2006 - Atonement Mon / Wed / Indie Fri
Week Of October 9, 2006 - Flags Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of October 16, 2006 - Mon / Epagogix Wed
Week Of October 23, 2006 - TCIFF Mon / Wed / Catch A Fri
Week Of October 30, 2006 - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of November 6, 2006 - Mon / Dead Girl Wed / Fri
Week Of November 13, 2006 - Bond Mon / Wed / TomKat Fri
Week Of November 20, 2006 - Mon / Thankful Wed
Week Of November 27, 2006 - Mon / Auteur Wed / Blood D Fri
Week Of December 4, 2006 - Mon / Wed
Week Of December 11, 2006 - Mon / Wed
Week Of December 18, 2006 - Mon / Wed / COM Fri
Week Of December 27, 2006 - Wed / Worst of 2006 Fri
Week Of Janiuary 3, 2007 - Best Of 2006 Wed
Week Of Janiuary 8, 2007 - Mon / COM Book Wed
Week Of January 17, 2007 - Little Red Writing Hood Wed
Week Of January 29, 2007 - Mon
Week Of February 5, 2007 -This Thing We Do Wk - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of February 12, 2007 - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of February 26, 2007 - Rough Oscars Mon / Zodiac Wed / Doc & Foreign Fri
Week Of March 5, 2007 - Mon / Fri
March 14 / March 21/ March 28
Week Of April 4, 2007 - Wed / Grindhouse Fri
Week Of April 9, 2007 - Indie Distirbution Mon / Star Ranking Wed / Top 20 Fri
Week Of April 16, 2007 - Mon / Piaf Wed
Week Of April 23, 2007 - Mon / Tribeca Wed / Costner Fri
Week Of April 30, 2007 - Spider Mon
Week Of May 7, 2007 - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of May 14, 2007 - 10 Thing Studios Don't Want Wed / Fri
Week Of May 21, 2007 - Mon / Pirates Fri
Week Of May 28, 2007 - Knocked Up Friday
Week Of June 4, 2007 - Hostel 2 Mon / Ocean's Wed / Seattle Fri
Week Of June 11, 2007 - Sopranos Mon
Week Of June 18, 2007 - Mon / Sicko Wed
Week Of July 2, 2007 - Xanadu Fri
Week Of July 9, 2007 - Mon / Hairspray Fri
Week Of July 23, 2007 - Bourne Mon / Superbad Wed
Week Of July 30, 2007 - Shoot Em Up Mon / Fri
Week Of August 6, 2007 - Wed / New Line Fri
Week Of August 13, 2007 - Macho Fri
