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Tuesday, 15 August 2006 01:15 |
The same organic characterizations that marked Lawrence's acclaimed 2001 film "Lantana" will attract fans of strong adult drama, and the film is boosted by a new preoccupation with landscape that leads to haunting visuals reminiscent of Peter Weir's "Picnic at Hanging Rock."
A pivotal moral dilemma with universal resonance, along with spiky performances from Hollywood imports Laura Linney and Gabriel Byrne in the lead roles, should widen the appeal of this powerful Australian production beyond the local market. The film was well-received in Cannes and is included in the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival.
"Jindabyne" relocates Raymond Carver's short story "So Much Water So Close to Home" to the high bush country of Australia's Snowy Mountains in a rather radical adaptation by scriptwriter Beatrix Christian. The Carver narrative, also featured as a piece in the mosaic of Robert Altman's "Short Cuts," has been expanded to embrace a raft of new characters, a racial subtext and a mystical element tied to the heritage of the eponymous town and surrounds.
Lawrence tautens the mood immediately with an opening sequence involving a cat-and-mouse car chase on a lonely back road. But this is no murder mystery; we know from the outset that it is a local tradesman (Chris Haywood) who is responsible for killing the 19-year-old Aboriginal girl (Tatea Reilly) whose near-naked body will wind up floating face down in the river.
The drama comes from the ripple effect of a single decision made by four men -- a practical choice that only becomes a question of morals when their actions are exposed to the fierce glare of a community's outrage.
On a much-anticipated weekend fishing trip, Stewart (Byrne), the owner of a local gas station, and his pals Carl (John Howard), Rocco (Stelios Yiakmis) and Billy "the Kid" (Simon Stone) stumble upon the murdered girl, but because the sun is shining, the fish are biting and it's a long scramble back to civilization, they put off reporting the find. They tether the girl's ankle to a tree with a length of fishing line and carry on with another day's fishing.
Upon their return, Stewart's wife, Claire (Linney), recoils in horror at the callousness of the act and is forced to sugarcoat the story for the benefit of their young son Tom (Sean Rees-Wemyss) by telling him that his father wrapped the girl in a sleeping bag to keep her warm. The incident puts pressure on imperfectly mended fractures in the couple's marriage -- there are oblique references to Claire suffering an 18-month bout of severe postnatal depression -- and the gap in understanding between the genders is echoed in the other men's relationships with their wives and girlfriends.
Blame and guilt splinter the community, with the tension compounded by the fact that the victim was Aboriginal, as is Rocco's girlfriend, Carmel (Leah Purcell).
Lawrence expertly layers on small scenes of disquiet, hinting at emotions buried deep beneath the surface. Such is the legitimacy of the interplay between the characters that when tempers flare or composure short-circuits -- as in an itchy confrontation in a restaurant between Claire and her mother-in-law (Betty Lucas) -- the drama feels uncomfortably close.
Linney's remarkable talent for folding strength and vulnerability into a single character makes Claire hugely sympathetic, even as she mulishly blunders about trying to make things right with the family of the dead girl. And Deborra-Lee Furness is outstanding in a supporting role as a matriarch bringing up the morbid child (Eva Lazzaro) of her dead daughter.
The socio-political argument eventually begins to weigh down the film, as does the soundtrack's over-reliance on the wordless vocals of Aussie troubadour Paul Kelly. Mood aplenty is conjured up by the watchful nature of the untamed terrain and far horizons, handsomely photographed by longtime Lawrence collaborator David Williamson, and by the director's measured pacing.
Director: Ray Lawrence
Screenwriter: Beatrix Christian
Based on the short story "So Much Water So Close to Home" by: Raymond Carver
Producer: Catherine Jarman
Executive producers: Philippa Bateman, Garry Charny
Director of photography: David Williamson
Production designer: Margot Wilson
Music: Paul Kelly, Dan Luscombe, Soteria Bell
Costume designers: Margot Wilson
Editor: Karl Sodersten
Cast:
Claire: Laura Linney
Stewart: Gabriel Byrne
Jude: Deborra-lee Furness
Carl: John Howard
Carmel: Leah Purcell
Rocco: Stelios Yiakmis
Elissa: Alice Garner
Billy: Simon Stone
Vanessa: Betty Lucas
Gregory: Chris Haywood
Caylin-Calandria: Eva Lazzaro
Tom: Sean Rees-Wemyss
Susan: Tatea Reilly |
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Tuesday, 15 August 2006 01:12 |
The titular character, played by Martin Weiss, is a lonely transsexual nightclub performer looking for love in all the wrong places. His brothers aren't faring much better: Hans-Jorg (Moritz Bleibtreu) is a lonely, sex-addicted librarian with a penchant for gratifying himself while spying on beautiful women in a public bathroom, while Werner (Herbert Knaup) is a rising politician whose beautiful wife seems more interested in their teenage son (Tom Schilling) than in fulfilling her marriage vows. Clearly, all three siblings have been emotionally damaged by childhood scars inflicted by their eccentric father (Vadim Glowna).
The episodic story line details the numerous transgressions of the various characters, including the teenager's penchant for video spying on his father, who at one point is seen using his office floor as a toilet.
The film's outrageousness would be more palatable if leavened with more wit, or if the characterizations possessed more nuances. But despite the strong efforts of a cast that includes several of Germany's more prominent performers, "Agnes" is less successful as a satire of family dysfunction than as yet another illustration that, in the wrong hands, shock value can be more tedious than bracing. |
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Tuesday, 15 August 2006 01:11 |
Deco and Naldinho (Lazaro Ramos, Wagner Moura), two shady young co-owners of a boat in the depressed waterfront city of Salvador, are the sort of close-knit friends who, as an early scene demonstrates, will literally take a knife for each other. That bond is sorely tested by the arrival of Karinna (Braga), a sexy young blond stripper and hooker who trades them her sexual favors in return for a ride.
Needless to say, what starts out as a sexual lark -- the two men draw straws to see which one of them will be serviced first -- takes on darker overtones as they begin to compete for the fleeting affections of their new acquaintance.
From its actual and figurative scenes of *****fighting to its copious use of throbbing Brazilian music, there's little here that rises above the level of formula. But director Machado displays a sure touch in his ability to convey the sultry atmosphere of his exotic setting, and he has elicited admirably naturalistic performances from his highly attractive, youthful performers. Braga, in particular, displays the sort of sexual and powerful screen presence that should guarantee her a significant international career.
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Tuesday, 15 August 2006 01:10 |
Located in New York's legendary Catskill Mountains, the Stagedoor Manor boasts many famous alumni, as the press notes (if not the film itself) proudly attests. These include Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Felicity Huffman, Robert Downey Jr. and, of course, Graff, who transformed his experiences into his affectionate cinematic tribute.
Here, Shiva tracks the progress of various teenage camp attendees, including one, Robert Wright, who already had appeared on Broadway, as Simba in "The Lion King." Unfortunately, the 15-year-old got an early taste of the cruelties of show business as he was forced to depart the production when his voice changed.
"Stagedoor" lurches from scene to scene in haphazard fashion, rarely providing the depth or context that would make its cinema verite portrait illuminating or memorable. While these theater-centric youngsters who worship at the altar of Stephen Sondheim are an undeniably offbeat and entertaining group, their experiences at the camp, ranging from classroom exercises to a student production of "Mame," seem more suitable for the subject for a "60 Minutes" segment than a feature-length film. |
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Tuesday, 15 August 2006 01:09 |
The simple plot revolves around a young wife and mother, Anna (Maria Kraakman), who periodically travels from her Dutch home to work as an irrigation specialist in such far-flung locales as Egypt. Anna's home life seems idyllic, as evidenced by the repeated scenes of lovemaking with her husband Sebastian (Fedja van Huet) and bathing with her infant son.
But that carefully ordered life enters a state of disarray when she discovers the body of a female co-worker who has hanged herself. The dead woman's husband claims to have no explanation for his wife's suicide, insisting that their marriage was a happy one.
Soon, Anna begins questioning the underlying state of her own existence, even beginning to follow her husband around looking for evidence of an affair. Fueling her paranoia is the fact that before they were married, he was the lover of her older sister.
Director-screenwriter Nanouk Leopold is much more interested in mood and visual style than on a coherent narrative, with the result that her effort often has the feel of the European art films of the early 1960s. But while "Guernsey" lacks the intellectual rigor and stylistic imagination of its inspirations, it does possess a certain minimalist power, with its elegant widescreen compositions and bare-bones dialogue infusing the proceedings with an ominously chilly atmosphere. |
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Tuesday, 15 August 2006 01:08 |
Timothy Olyphant plays the central character of Sonny, who has returned to his small Florida village after serving several years in jail for drug smuggling. He's now looking to receive the $200,000 in compensation he was promised by the local crime boss (William Forsythe) and his nephew (Josh Lucas), who are more than a little reluctant to pay up.
Instead, they blow to smithereens the small shack in which Sonny is staying, killing his oyster farmer father (Scott Wilson) in the process. Sonny goes to stay with his best friend (Josh Brolin), now the town sheriff, and is soon involved in a torrid affair with his wife (Sarah Wynter).
Despite the various melodramatic plot elements, "Coastlines" never achieves any dramatic tension, due in no small part to the filmmaker's unhurried style and penchant for stressing subtle atmospherics over plot. Unfortunately, none of the characters on display here are particularly interesting, and we never come to care about their contrived fates.
Lacking the suspense that the overheated narrative would seem to promise, "Coastlines" rolls along in a plodding fashion, as if overcome by the oppressive humid heat of its setting. |
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Tuesday, 15 August 2006 01:06 |
The frequently unclothed Roger Rees (displaying a body that any 60-plus male would be more than proud of) plays the central role of Peter, a married therapist who has had a long-standing professional relationship with his S&M mistress Suzanne (Geno Lechner). That relationship, tacitly condoned by Peter's wife, becomes threatened when Suzanne announces that she is quitting her job in the dungeon, leading Peter to propose that they begin meeting on the outside.
Although she returns his feelings to some degree, Suzanne's professional ethics and personal qualms lead her to resist the proposal. Eventually she relents, leading to the inevitable emotional complications.
The film reveals the influence of director/co-writer Werthman's profession because it adopts a highly clinical and thoughtful rather than exploitative turn. Although at times one wishes for a little more heat, of both the dramatic and erotic variety, there is an admirable intelligence and restraint on display.
Much of the film's impact is thanks to the performance given by Rees, here handed a rare leading dramatic role. Anyone who has seen the actor in the landmark production of "Nicholas Nickelby" is well aware of what this talented actor is capable of, and here he delivers a beautifully nuanced and subtle performance that makes his character a far more sympathetic figure than one might have expected.
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Tuesday, 15 August 2006 01:06 |
John Dower and Paul Crowder's film exhaustively documents the rise and fall of the scrappy team that, thanks to the late Warner Communications honcho Steve Ross, briefly became the Yankees of the sport. Using a canny combination of archival footage and contemporary interviews with nearly all of the surviving figures involved -- Cosmos superstar Pele is a notable and highly unfortunate exception -- the film is as much morality tale as sports docu.
Cannily scored with vintage pop music of the period, the film details the team's humble beginnings on New York's decrepit Randall's Island, playing on a field littered with broken glass that literally had to be spray-painted green, to selling out 77,000 seats at the newly built Giants Stadium just a few years later.
This was of course be-cause of Ross' fervent passion for the sport and his high-spending ways that brought such superstars as Pele, Italy's Giorgio Chinaglia and Germany's Franz Beckenbauer to the team.
One amusing anecdote follows another in the compelling narrative, from player Shep Messing's decision to pose nude for a magazine spread to Henry Kissinger's persuading the leaders of Brazil to allow their national hero to play for a U.S. team.
As one interview subject astutely predicts, a "Rashomon"-like scenario develops as the various participants in the tale relate their highly differing viewpoints, with many pointing to Chinaglia's "malign influence" on Ross as the team became undone by various forces. The ultimate reason for its demise, however, emerges as far less sinister than mundane, namely the failure of the sport to catch on quickly with the American television audience. |
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Tuesday, 15 August 2006 01:03 |
But perhaps Burns, now married and a veteran actor on the sets of other people's movies, has grown up. There is a level of maturity we haven't seen before in his films, and the characters feel fresher, less fictional, possibly drawn from his own life. As a bonus, by recruiting Brittany Murphy, Donal Logue, John Leguizamo, Jay Mohr and Matthew Lillard to play alongside him, Burns has pulled together a strong ensemble cast.
The film will still need strong marketing and promotion to get people into seats. Wedding themes have proven strong draws in recent comedies, but this is a more realistic and heartfelt film than, say, "Wedding Crashers." The film needs to attract an over-25 crowd to become a hit in specialty venues.
Burns places his story in City Island, that surprising enclave of New England in the heart of the Bronx. Here a small-town feel prevails, where guys can walk unsteadily down the middle of a street after the bars close without neighbors caring because everyone knows who they are.
In this homey, middle-class environment, Paulie (Burns) should be sitting pretty. He is about to marry his loving fiancee, Sue (Murphy), with whom he lives in a comfy old house. And they are about to have a child. Instead, Paulie gets the feeling he is walking off a gangplank into unknown waters.
Not helping matters is the hugely negative attitude of his older brother, Jimbo (Logue), who when he's not having fights with his wife thinks Paulie is making the worst mistake of his life. And he's the best man! Cousin Mike (Mohr) is no help either. He still lives at home with his dad and can't sustain any intimate relationship because he has never matured beyond the mental age of 22.
The only groomsman who is helpful is Dez (Lillard), a level-headed tavern owner and father of two, who can rhapsodize at the drop of a hat on the joys of family life. The odd man out is T.C. (Leguizamo), returning home for the first time in eight years after vanishing without a trace and carrying with him a secret and Mike's favorite baseball card, the latter fact still bitterly resented by Mike.
As these thirtysomething guys do their guy things -- fishing, softball, practice for a band reunion -- all the hidden agendas, secret fears, angst over increasing responsibility and patterns of denial get shaken from their souls. That everything gets resolved so neatly is a stretch though. Burns might have left a thread or two dangling.
The best thing here is the natural acting by the ensemble. Nothing feels forced or false. Every actor knows his or her role inside out. These are realistic, believable characters in all-too-real situations that do spring up before weddings. Throw in a soundtrack of rock standards and warm homes in such a livable community, made all the more enticing by designer Dina Goldman and cinematographer William Rexer II, and you have a film that makes "feel good" respectable again.
Screenwriter-director: Edward Burns
Producers: Margot Bridger, Edward Burns, Aaron Lubin, Philippe Martinez
Executive producers: Karinne Behr, David Gorton, Walter Josten
Director of photography: William Rexer II
Production designer: Dina Goldman
Music: Robert Gary, P.T. Walkley
Costume designer: Catherine Marie Thomas
Editor: Jamie Kirkpatrick
Cast:
Paulie: Edward Burns
Sue: Brittany Murphy
Jimbo: Donal Logue
TC: John Leguizamo, Mike: Jay Mohr
Dez: Matthew Lillard |
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Tuesday, 15 August 2006 01:02 |
Gerard Butler, who seems to have a particular affinity for larger-than-life roles, commandingly plays Beowulf, the Norse hero recruited by his friend King Hrothgar (Stellan Skarsgard) to rid his kingdom of the murderous troll Grendel (Ingvar Sigurdsson). Complicating Beowulf's mission is the intervention of a beautiful witch (Sarah Polley) who is particularly generous with her sexual favors.
Shooting on rugged Icelandic locations, cinematographer Jan Kiesser provides gorgeous widescreen vistas that give the film a visual power that goes a long way toward compensating for its narrative deficiencies.
Screenwriter Andrew Rai Berzins takes more than a few liberties with the source material, to varying effect. The film works best when it hews most closely to the story's mythical elements, with its efforts at providing psychological underpinnings for the characters' behavior often proving more laughable than enlightening.
Still, thanks to its visual imagination and the committed performances of its cast -- Skarsgard provides welcome humor as the beleaguered king and Sigurdsson is as fierce a villain as one could imagine -- this full-blooded rendition of the Norse saga should prove a handy video study guide for students for years to come. |
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Tuesday, 15 August 2006 01:01 |
Fortunately, Toback -- a self-admitted addict to drugs, gambling, drinking, women and just about anything else pleasurable with which he comes into contact -- is a highly engaging and frank figure more than willing to shed entertaining light on his passions and personal demons.
While the behind-the-scenes footage of Toback filming his latest opus is fairly routine, "The Outsider" is quite entertaining thanks to its copious use of flip clips from the director's oeuvre, which includes the screenplays for "The Gambler" and "Bugsy." The well-edited assemblage makes clear the extent of Toback's obsession with sex and violence, among other things.
Even better are the filmed interviews with the wide gallery of collaborators who have formed a sort of Tobackian repertory company. These include football great Jim Brown, who talks admiringly (and this is indeed truly saying something) of Toback's ability to seduce women; Robert Downey Jr., who somehow manages to compare him to Shakespeare without sounding ridiculous; Mike Tyson, who admits that they both can "be a little crazy at times"; Norman Mailer, who proclaims that were he starting out today he would want to be a film director instead of a novelist; and Robert Towne, Brett Ratner and Roger Ebert, among others.
Jarecki also was somehow able to snare an on-set interview with Woody Allen (Toback played a small role in "Alice"), who talks about their similar personal approach to filmmaking. |
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Hollywood Movies
