Reviews of lesser-known DVDs, new and old
What the ratings mean:
**** One of the best. You definitely want to see it, perhaps even add it to your collection.
*** Very good. Certainly worth a place in your queue.
** Average. Consider it if you like the stars or the genre.
* More a warning than a rating.
DNF Did Not Finish, and so any rating of mine would be unfair. (Life is short and the stack of DVDs is tall.)
(Half stars indicate wishiwashiness, equivocation, second thoughts and indecision.)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hemingway’s Garden of Eden **
Without the name of the Noble Prize-winning writer in the title, this modest little effort might well have shown up on Cinemax around midnight. It’s soft core with an attractive cast, mostly excellent production values, and one really cool vintage Bugatti two-seater. The main settings are Paris and Cannes (actually Spain) in the 1920s. That’s where dashing young novelist David (Jack Huston, the disfigured sniper on HBO’s Boardwalk Empire) marries spoiled weird rich girl Catherine (Mena Suvari, the rose-petal-bedecked cheerleader in American Beauty). Her predilection for sexual kinkiness knows no limits. In short order, she has her hair done in a short platinum blonde bob, and she persuades Jack to do the same. (Few things look sillier than a man with a black mustache and platinum hair.) Eventually, they meet the gorgeous Marita (the gorgeous Caterina Murino), and Jack is inspired to write a short story about his father (Matthew Modine) killing an elephant in Africa. Things go south after that. The hanky-panky is mostly handled through dark bedroom scenes. Sparkling blue water, empty beaches and that great car are really more important, anyway.
Jolene **
This 2008 festival favorite comes with a curious pedigree. It’s based on an E.L. Doctorow New Yorker short story. In Doctorow’s elegant prose, it’s an emotionally detached tale that covers ten years in 29 pages. On screen, it’s female-empowerment that meanders into exploitation, and is never completely successful as either. Jessica Chastain is the title character who’s married at 15 in South Carolina and soon finds herself a widow. The picaresque plot follows her as she heads west and runs across a sexual predator at virtually every turn from prison guard to tattoo artist to spoiled rich boy. The only nice guy in her life is a Las Vegas gambler nicely played by Chazz Palminteri. Director Dan Ireland also made the well-regarded Whole Wide World. He got an excellent performance from his star, but the whole film is unbalanced, uneven and too long.
(115 min. Rated R for sexual content, language, brief nudity.)
Mesrine: Killer Instinct ***
To call this biopic a French Goodfellas is accurate enough, but it’s also comparable to a recent German import, The Baader Meinhof Complex. Like Scorsese’s film, it tells the story of a young guy who gets involved with organized crime in the ‘60s and rises through the ranks while his personal life disintegrates. Like the German film, it’s a complicated story of gangsters and politics with a global setting. Director Jean-François Richet uses a few interesting tricks like multiple screens to jazz things up, but the film’s heart is a terrific performance from Vincent Cassell. (He’s also the ballet boss in Black Swan.)
As the film puts it, Jacques Mesrine was introduced to violence as a soldier in Algeria. When he comes back to Paris, he goes to work for mob boss Guido (Gerard Depardieu), marries a pretty Spanish girl (Elena Anaya) and takes up with a moll (Cecile de France). Without dwelling on details, the film spins out his story as an escalating series of robberies, murders, kidnappings, incarcerations and affairs with beautiful women. In short, it’s the same stuff that American gangster movies have been made of since The Public Enemy and Little Caesar. (Actually, it goes all the way back to D.W. Griffith’s The Musketeers of Pig Alley, but this is a short review, not a lecture.)
Throughout, the pace is fast, the action is flamboyant, and Cassell is terrific. Yes, the film glamorizes him and pays little attention to his nastier moments, like kidnapping a cripple. But for fast, violent pulp escapism, you could do worse.
Part II, Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1 finishes the story in an equally lively style and becomes more complicated as the character comes to believe his own press clippings. Taken together, the two films are just a terrific gangster story.
(113 and 134 min. Rated R for graphic violence, sexual material, language.)
The Next Three Days ***
Here’s a solid sleeper. If you missed it in theaters, put it at the top of the list. Given the premise–Russell Crowe springs his wife Elizabeth Banks from prison—you might expect something wildly complicated and far-fetched, along the lines of Law Abiding Citizen from a couple of years back, but writer-director Paul Haggis takes things more seriously. Given the excesses that many thrillers deal in, this one is fairly realistic and restrained. It’s more interested in characters and the complexities of the plot, not big splashy action scenes. For comparative purposes, think of Breaking Bad, the best series on television. Both understand that extreme actions have extreme consequences.
The setting is Pittsburgh. John Brennan (Crowe) teaches at a community college. One morning the cops burst into his suburban house and arrest his wife for murder. For much of the film, we don’t know whether or not she’s guilty. When Brennan realizes that all appeals have been exhausted, he is forced to act. But what does that mean for his young son, and how much is he willing to sacrifice to get her out?
It is a very tricky story, one that manages to maintain suspense and provide surprises all the way to the end. Highly recommended.
(133 min. Rated PG-13 for subject matter, violence and language.)
Suture (1993) R ***
The Deep End (2001) R ** ½
These two noirs complement each other in curious ways.
Suture, shot in carefully detailed dreamlike black and white, works with archetypal noir themes of doppelgangers, amnesia, and betrayal, but filmmakers Scott McGehee and David Siegel are interested in heightened style that borders on the experimental, not conventional storytelling. Like Psycho, it begins in Phoenix, Arizona, where Clay (Dennis Haysbert) arrives to meet his half-brother Vincent (Michael Harris). Both men comment on their striking physical resemblance. No mention is made of the fact that Clay is black and Vincent is white. Actually, Clay’s skin color is never noted by any of the characters. The film isn’t about race; the shades and textures of Haysbert’s face are part of the overall production design, as important as the costumes and props. Clay is often dressed in white clothes and much of the action takes place on glowing white sets. The pace is slow and so is most of the physical action. Haysbert’s stillness is matched by measured line readings, most notably the explanatory psychiatric mumbo-jumbo. As for the plot… well, in the end it almost makes sense.
In The Deep End, McGehee and Siegel use the colors blue and red the way they used black and white in the first film. The story concerns a mother (Tilda Swinton) whose teenage son is frequenting a gay nightclub and is being threatened by the proprietor (Josh Lucas). Again, what happens is less important than the look of the film. Lake Tahoe and Reno locations are presented in deep, heavily saturated colors. Sound effects and images of water are given the same exaggerated treatment. The star’s striking appearance (red hair, blue eyes) and intensity have seldom been used so effectively.
I should note that some viewers (including Max) have found the film homophobic. I disagree. And some viewers may be disappointed in the ending, but for me, it worked. Both films stood up well on a second viewing.
The Tillman Story ***
No matter what your politics, you will be angered by this documentary about the famous NFL star who quit the Arizona Cardinals after 9/11 and enlisted in the Army. You probably already know the basics. He became a Ranger, was sent to Iraq and then to Afghanistan. After he was killed there, first reports said he’d been in a firefight with the enemy. But when his family pressed for details, they learned that his death was a result of friendly fire.
It would be easy enough for a filmmaker to stop at that point and simply indict the military and the government. There’s plenty of blame to go around in that part, when finally, the various officials are called before a congressional committee and say repeatedly that they “can’t recall” when they learned the real circumstances of the engagement. But director Amir Bar-Lev has larger ambitions. He’s interested in the creation of heroes and the role that those heroes play in the overall narrative of a war, and how people react to it. Finally, though, the focus of his film is on the Tillman family. They were the ones who knew the real Pat Tillman, not the football player, not the soldier, not the symbol of anything.
Incredibly, this involving, passionate film was not nominated for an Oscar.
(94 min. Rated R for language and violence.)
Without the name of the Noble Prize-winning writer in the title, this modest little effort might well have shown up on Cinemax around midnight. It’s soft core with an attractive cast, mostly excellent production values, and one really cool vintage Bugatti two-seater. The main settings are Paris and Cannes (actually Spain) in the 1920s. That’s where dashing young novelist David (Jack Huston, the disfigured sniper on HBO’s Boardwalk Empire) marries spoiled weird rich girl Catherine (Mena Suvari, the rose-petal-bedecked cheerleader in American Beauty). Her predilection for sexual kinkiness knows no limits. In short order, she has her hair done in a short platinum blonde bob, and she persuades Jack to do the same. (Few things look sillier than a man with a black mustache and platinum hair.) Eventually, they meet the gorgeous Marita (the gorgeous Caterina Murino), and Jack is inspired to write a short story about his father (Matthew Modine) killing an elephant in Africa. Things go south after that. The hanky-panky is mostly handled through dark bedroom scenes. Sparkling blue water, empty beaches and that great car are really more important, anyway.
Jolene **
This 2008 festival favorite comes with a curious pedigree. It’s based on an E.L. Doctorow New Yorker short story. In Doctorow’s elegant prose, it’s an emotionally detached tale that covers ten years in 29 pages. On screen, it’s female-empowerment that meanders into exploitation, and is never completely successful as either. Jessica Chastain is the title character who’s married at 15 in South Carolina and soon finds herself a widow. The picaresque plot follows her as she heads west and runs across a sexual predator at virtually every turn from prison guard to tattoo artist to spoiled rich boy. The only nice guy in her life is a Las Vegas gambler nicely played by Chazz Palminteri. Director Dan Ireland also made the well-regarded Whole Wide World. He got an excellent performance from his star, but the whole film is unbalanced, uneven and too long.
(115 min. Rated R for sexual content, language, brief nudity.)
Mesrine: Killer Instinct ***
To call this biopic a French Goodfellas is accurate enough, but it’s also comparable to a recent German import, The Baader Meinhof Complex. Like Scorsese’s film, it tells the story of a young guy who gets involved with organized crime in the ‘60s and rises through the ranks while his personal life disintegrates. Like the German film, it’s a complicated story of gangsters and politics with a global setting. Director Jean-François Richet uses a few interesting tricks like multiple screens to jazz things up, but the film’s heart is a terrific performance from Vincent Cassell. (He’s also the ballet boss in Black Swan.)
As the film puts it, Jacques Mesrine was introduced to violence as a soldier in Algeria. When he comes back to Paris, he goes to work for mob boss Guido (Gerard Depardieu), marries a pretty Spanish girl (Elena Anaya) and takes up with a moll (Cecile de France). Without dwelling on details, the film spins out his story as an escalating series of robberies, murders, kidnappings, incarcerations and affairs with beautiful women. In short, it’s the same stuff that American gangster movies have been made of since The Public Enemy and Little Caesar. (Actually, it goes all the way back to D.W. Griffith’s The Musketeers of Pig Alley, but this is a short review, not a lecture.)
Throughout, the pace is fast, the action is flamboyant, and Cassell is terrific. Yes, the film glamorizes him and pays little attention to his nastier moments, like kidnapping a cripple. But for fast, violent pulp escapism, you could do worse.
Part II, Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1 finishes the story in an equally lively style and becomes more complicated as the character comes to believe his own press clippings. Taken together, the two films are just a terrific gangster story.
(113 and 134 min. Rated R for graphic violence, sexual material, language.)
The Next Three Days ***
Here’s a solid sleeper. If you missed it in theaters, put it at the top of the list. Given the premise–Russell Crowe springs his wife Elizabeth Banks from prison—you might expect something wildly complicated and far-fetched, along the lines of Law Abiding Citizen from a couple of years back, but writer-director Paul Haggis takes things more seriously. Given the excesses that many thrillers deal in, this one is fairly realistic and restrained. It’s more interested in characters and the complexities of the plot, not big splashy action scenes. For comparative purposes, think of Breaking Bad, the best series on television. Both understand that extreme actions have extreme consequences.
The setting is Pittsburgh. John Brennan (Crowe) teaches at a community college. One morning the cops burst into his suburban house and arrest his wife for murder. For much of the film, we don’t know whether or not she’s guilty. When Brennan realizes that all appeals have been exhausted, he is forced to act. But what does that mean for his young son, and how much is he willing to sacrifice to get her out?
It is a very tricky story, one that manages to maintain suspense and provide surprises all the way to the end. Highly recommended.
(133 min. Rated PG-13 for subject matter, violence and language.)
Suture (1993) R ***
The Deep End (2001) R ** ½
These two noirs complement each other in curious ways.
Suture, shot in carefully detailed dreamlike black and white, works with archetypal noir themes of doppelgangers, amnesia, and betrayal, but filmmakers Scott McGehee and David Siegel are interested in heightened style that borders on the experimental, not conventional storytelling. Like Psycho, it begins in Phoenix, Arizona, where Clay (Dennis Haysbert) arrives to meet his half-brother Vincent (Michael Harris). Both men comment on their striking physical resemblance. No mention is made of the fact that Clay is black and Vincent is white. Actually, Clay’s skin color is never noted by any of the characters. The film isn’t about race; the shades and textures of Haysbert’s face are part of the overall production design, as important as the costumes and props. Clay is often dressed in white clothes and much of the action takes place on glowing white sets. The pace is slow and so is most of the physical action. Haysbert’s stillness is matched by measured line readings, most notably the explanatory psychiatric mumbo-jumbo. As for the plot… well, in the end it almost makes sense.
In The Deep End, McGehee and Siegel use the colors blue and red the way they used black and white in the first film. The story concerns a mother (Tilda Swinton) whose teenage son is frequenting a gay nightclub and is being threatened by the proprietor (Josh Lucas). Again, what happens is less important than the look of the film. Lake Tahoe and Reno locations are presented in deep, heavily saturated colors. Sound effects and images of water are given the same exaggerated treatment. The star’s striking appearance (red hair, blue eyes) and intensity have seldom been used so effectively.
I should note that some viewers (including Max) have found the film homophobic. I disagree. And some viewers may be disappointed in the ending, but for me, it worked. Both films stood up well on a second viewing.
The Tillman Story ***
No matter what your politics, you will be angered by this documentary about the famous NFL star who quit the Arizona Cardinals after 9/11 and enlisted in the Army. You probably already know the basics. He became a Ranger, was sent to Iraq and then to Afghanistan. After he was killed there, first reports said he’d been in a firefight with the enemy. But when his family pressed for details, they learned that his death was a result of friendly fire.
It would be easy enough for a filmmaker to stop at that point and simply indict the military and the government. There’s plenty of blame to go around in that part, when finally, the various officials are called before a congressional committee and say repeatedly that they “can’t recall” when they learned the real circumstances of the engagement. But director Amir Bar-Lev has larger ambitions. He’s interested in the creation of heroes and the role that those heroes play in the overall narrative of a war, and how people react to it. Finally, though, the focus of his film is on the Tillman family. They were the ones who knew the real Pat Tillman, not the football player, not the soldier, not the symbol of anything.
Incredibly, this involving, passionate film was not nominated for an Oscar.
(94 min. Rated R for language and violence.)
Wild Target **½
The English remake of a French comedy is a lightweight diversion notable mostly for the cast. Bill Nighy is an assassin who’s experiencing a minor midlife crisis. He’s the best at his job but has no friends. His only human contact is his mother (Eileen Atkins) who has recently moved into an assisted living facility. He then commits the ultimate professional sin when he falls for his target, a free-spirited thief/kleptomaniac (Emily Blunt). At the same time, he meets a young parking lot attendant (Rupert Grint, from the Harry Potter movies) and takes him on as an apprentice. The bad guys, led by a Rupert Everett, are, of course, hot on their trail. Despite a fairly high body count, the tone is light and things move right along at a brisk, if predictable pace. Director Jonathan Lynn (My Cousin Vinny) knows what he’s doing and so do his stars.
(98 min. Rated PG-13 for mild violence, sexual material, language.)
The English remake of a French comedy is a lightweight diversion notable mostly for the cast. Bill Nighy is an assassin who’s experiencing a minor midlife crisis. He’s the best at his job but has no friends. His only human contact is his mother (Eileen Atkins) who has recently moved into an assisted living facility. He then commits the ultimate professional sin when he falls for his target, a free-spirited thief/kleptomaniac (Emily Blunt). At the same time, he meets a young parking lot attendant (Rupert Grint, from the Harry Potter movies) and takes him on as an apprentice. The bad guys, led by a Rupert Everett, are, of course, hot on their trail. Despite a fairly high body count, the tone is light and things move right along at a brisk, if predictable pace. Director Jonathan Lynn (My Cousin Vinny) knows what he’s doing and so do his stars.
(98 min. Rated PG-13 for mild violence, sexual material, language.)