Severance
directed by Christopher Smith
written by James Moran and Christopher Smith
starring Toby Stephens, Claudie Blakley, Andy Nyman, Babou Ceesay, Tim McInnery, Laura Harris, Danny Dyer, David Gilliam, Juli Drajkó, Judit Viktor
Someone is out in the woods and they’ve got a nasty habit of gutting people who stumble into their lair. This film is a tale of just such butchery and it’s glorious ramifications.
As the movie opens a man and two Russian hotties are running desperately through the woods. The girls fall into a trap and the man is disemboweled. The film backs up a few days and a group of associates for Palisade, a weapons firm, are in a bus heading for a nice get-to-know-you weekend at a fancy lodge. They are stalled in the road by a tree in the roadway and their driver refuses to go on. He drives off leaving them to walk to a lodge that is far from fancy.
The film involves the picking off one by one of the workers as they attempt to improve company morale through various exercises. But, unfortunately for them they stumble into the territory of a very hostile group of thugs that wants nothing to do with their team-building games. Indeed, they rather enjoy the sport of hunting humans and quickly the group is decimated for their ill-timed adventure.
There are several theories surrounding the lodge and it’s purpose. According to various accounts it was either a mental hospital, a prison, or a “love” hospital teeming with sexy nurses satisfying the needs of tottering old fools succoring on their immaculate breasts. The film never fully explains specifically who the men are and what they want only that they are Russian, they know about Palisade, and that they are wholly demonstrative animals with a keen eye on establishing a giddily high body count out of the poor saps caught in their cross hairs. Also they are bloody efficient and fulfilling the edicts of their overall plan. The victims are easy prey having no knowledge of the area and no easy mode of transportation to take them away from their de facto prison.
The film can best be described as a black comedy for those who take delight in the niceties of butchery tempered with clever one-liners that are designed to take the edge off of the horror. To everyone else the film is incessantly brutal with graphic depictions of violence against characters to whom one has grown sympathetic. Still, there are those here whose deaths are not particularly minded, even wished for based on their behavior during the initial stages of the film.
The final third of the film features two characters in full-on survival mode. Maggie (Harris) and Steve (Dyer) become the ultimate hunted game as they desperately attempt to elude capture and imminent death. Maggie is particularly fierce and proves herself to be agile and fully capable with weapons. As is always the case an exquisite female form handling herself with shotguns is terribly sexy especially when the camera lovingly hovers over her immaculate face caked in blood.
The film possesses a tremendous amount of energy both before and during the hunting sequences where the characters are driven out of their precious comfort zones and forced to fend for their lives. Most of them prove to be easy enough to capture and it’s only the final two who put up much of a fight. The group spends a time arguing amongst themselves about the best possible action to leave the cabin and get back to civilization upon the discovery that someone has been peering through Jill’s window. There is a sense for a while that the infighting is going to cause considerable damage to the participants and sully the integrity of their mission. It takes a real catastrophe such as certain death to rid them of their pretense and force them to concentrate on the problem facing them all.
There are moments during the final sequences where the film allows its audience to question the legitimacy of the Palisade corporation. It strikes one as a sinister organization who supplies weapons to anyone who needs them ostensibly including terrorists. The company is a specter that hangs over the entire film. Harris finds boxes of records regarding Russian men who may be patients or inmates featuring the company’s logo. It becomes even more sinister when several members of the group discover a prison set up in the lower regions of the building.
We learn at the end that the two girls running through the woods are Russian escorts that Steve has hired for a bit of good, clean fun.
The performances in this film are stellar throughout. Laura Harris is clearly present and focused for the duration of the film. She establishes her character’s grim determination to survive at all costs. One gets a very real sense of Maggie’s intensity which is demonstrated early in the film before she’s forced to engage in behavior that has always been a part of her but which she has kept in reserve. Maggie is a bit cold and distant for the first half of the film and it isn’t until the chase is on that she opens up and releases a torrent of emotions. Danny Dyer’s character offers some comic relief early in the film with his slightly daft mushroom trip where he temporarily freaks out and has to be led on a rope by Maggie. Dyer is convincing as a bit of a loose canon who doesn’t take the mission all that seriously. Andy Nyman plays Gordon as centered and grounded until he loses his leg and he becomes necessarily hysterical; Steve gives him some ecstasy to help with the pain and he starts blabbering to Maggie that he loves her in classic e-speak.
Overall, this film is intoxicating from beginning to end. It deftly establishes all the characters creating the potential that the audience may actually find something in them worth caring about. For the most part the characters are entirely sympathetic although there are degrees as to which some are more worth bothering over. It’s a very funny film that deals with a horrific situation that really calls for humor. The film suggests that it’s the only way to deal with such a ghastly situation as this. The nameless and mostly faceless killers are an interesting lot considering that so little is known about them and that the film refuses to disclose any information that might help the audience make a positive identification. They remain wholly other and outside the realm of proper judgement; they are ciphers who storm in and cause considerable mayhem before slinking back into the dark night. Ultimately, this film satisfies the longing for torn flesh throughout and plays like a dark fable about avoiding strange woods where sinister creatures haunt the night.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Film Review--He's Just Not that Into You
He’s Just Not That Into You
directed by Ken Kwapis
written by Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein
based on the book “He’s Just Not That Into You”: The No Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo
starring Ginnifer Goodwin, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Connelly, Jennifer Aniston, Justin Long, Kevin Connolly, Bradley Cooper, Scarlett Johansson, Drew Barrymore
Ah, love with the tenacious fangs of fear pressed against one’s throat. This film explores the myriad ways the beasts creeps in to devour the unwitting who necessarily succumb to its charms and derelictions.
The film follows the lives of numerous characters as they walk the tightrope between pleasure and emotional pain. Gigi (Goodwin) is a sweet girl who finds her self struggling to understand the motives and behaviors of guys. She frets that Conor (Connolly) hasn’t called her back after a single date. Desperately she consults her friends Beth (Aniston) and Janine (Connelly) and they aren’t quite able to calm her down. Out of desperation she asks bar owner Alex (Long) for advice and he informs her that if a guy doesn’t pursue a woman directly he’s not interested. This advice helps Gigi and leads her in a direction that ultimately allows her to find someone who is into her completely and effortlessly.
Beth and Neil (Affleck) have been seeing each other for seven years but Neil refuses to pop the question because he doesn’t believe in marriage. Beth takes it in stride although she repeatedly makes her feelings felt on the matter. Janine and Ben (Cooper) have been married for seven years and consider themselves happy. However, Ben meets Anna (Johansson) at a grocery store and beings a romance with her. It is revealed that the marriage isn’t exactly ideal and that Janine is upset that Ben has lied to her about not smoking. Anna is sort of dating Conor but she won’t sleep with him again and this arrangement upsets Conor who wants more. Mary promotes Conor’s real estate business but is the only character who is not pursuing nor is pursued by any potential suitors.
The film does an adequate job juggling its many narratives. There’s a naturalness about each of the characters and their plights are presented in a matter-of-fact way that is bereft of sentimentality and over-reaching. Once the dynamics are set up the film just allows the characters to follow their perspective paths until they ultimately collide in various levels. There is tremendous strain in this film as ideas about what each character wants continually shift. There is no set grounding for any of the characters as mooring is repeatedly kicked aside in a painstaking effort for release of some sort.
Gigi is the narrator and perhaps the most significant character in the film. Her hysterical reactions to feeling left out and abandoned resonate throughout the entire film. She longs for the one true love and seems to want to be rescued from herself and her neurotic tendencies. She is the image of impatience and demands that it happen to her right now. It isn’t until she realizes her folly that she is able to open herself up to love and indeed it takes the release of very harsh but revealing words to a man for the air to be cleared leaving true feelings to reveal themselves. She lambasts him and he realizes that her rings sting with truth. Up to that point he had denied his true feelings for Gigi and even pushed her off when she tried to kiss him after staying until 3 in the morning helping him clean up after a party. She is able to read his signals of desire that he is not able to recognize. It is clear upon their first meeting that they are going to hook up by film’s end. Indeed, all the relationship issues solve themselves eventually.
The film navigates through decidedly treacherous waters. There is deceit, suppressed longing and insecurities on display as each character demonstrates a not so perfect grasp on their situation. There is pain here but it is superceded by contentment. There doesn’t seem to be any unabashed demonstration of love, however. Every character lazily moves about and nothing they do seems to suggest intense and undying love. Mostly what is on display here is the belief that a person isn’t quite whole unless they have convinced another person to share entirely in their life. These characters are all fragmented and works in progress. None of them seem particularly fulfilled in their lives despite their various careers and the fact that they have found that someone who may or may not to prove themselves willing and ready for the long haul. Still, that seems to be the direction the film is heading although there is an ambiguous display of marriage.
Another idea voiced by the character Mary is that when you are married to someone and you meet someone else who you connect with on every level, are you supposed to just let that person go by? Ben is the embodiment of this predicament. Even though they were not having sex he believed, because he enjoyed the rut they were in, that things were working out. However, he meets Anna and suddenly the game changes for him and he realizes he has stumbled precisely into the same situation described by Mary. There is intense chemistry between these two characters and the obvious can not be effectively denied. He wants her but hesitates because he honestly believes he cannot betray his wife. Still, he gives in to his temptation and effectively destroys his marriage even though Janine puts on a brave face once he reveals the truth to her. She is impossibly strong after his announcement and states evenly and cooly that it’s something they can work through and doesn’t necessarily have to lead to a separation. Ben is perfectly willing to break it off perhaps because he has already in his mind decided to leave Janine and will latch on any excuse to do so.
There isn’t a whole lot of sexual chemistry in this film between any of the characters and little magic. There is only the satisfaction that these characters one has spent over two hours with have found someone who reflects themselves back to them with clarity and honesty. The film makes out this process to be trying and difficult and capable of convincing a person that the quest is not worth it and the only recourse is to get out of the game entirely. This is not an option in this film because each character is driven by the desire to justify themselves in the eyes of another person who redeems them to a certain degree. These characters all seek such redemption and seem unable to find it by any other source. There is tremendous anxiety throughout this film and significant insecurity. The characters seem unable to tackle life without the crutch of another person to lean on. There is ambition here and an effort to foster change in the lives of some of the characters. There is drive and at least a level of understanding.
The performances in this film are all infectious. Bradley Cooper is dynamic and impossibly charming throughout. He exudes an air of confidence that most likely comes from a lifetime of play. Ginnifer Goodwin is captivating in her character’s neurosis. She naturally conveys Gigi’s startling need for reassurance that she is worthy of a man’s attention and affection. Jennifer Aniston routinely presents her character’s empathic nature and comes off as entirely sympathetic. There is an earnestness about Beth that Aniston genuinely affects throughout. Scarlett Johannson is slinky and well-grounded in her sexuality. She presents a character who is tingling with a robust, expressive erotic appeal. She’s the one character who truly seems comfortable in her immaculate skin. Justin Long captures Alex’s understanding nature as well as his role as a harbinger of cold, hard truth. Jennifer Connelly is iconic and devastatingly present throughout this film. She’s got a iciness and a fortitude about her that comes across periodically. Ben Affleck is typically solid in this role. Neil is initially impenetrable and Affleck demonstrates his gradual softening and openness. Kevin Connolly is quite good at demonstrating Conor’s neediness and his cool discharge of emotions. Drew Barrymore is earthy and perpetually calm yet decisive throughout the film. Mary is not particularly neurotic and seems to know what she wants unlike most of the other characters.
Overall, this film offers an appetizing dish of anxiety and fear throughout. It’s fairly even handed between the males and females and seems relatively honest about the motivations that drive people to crash into each other all in the name of commitment and sexual satiation. These characters are all driven by aspects of their relationships with members of the opposite sex. There’s not much room in this film for personal growth save the occasional realization that one is behaving like a coward or a jerk and needs more than they are willing to admit to themselves. The performances are natural and all convey the myriad complexities that go into anyone who has difficulty nailing down what they actually want.
directed by Ken Kwapis
written by Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein
based on the book “He’s Just Not That Into You”: The No Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo
starring Ginnifer Goodwin, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Connelly, Jennifer Aniston, Justin Long, Kevin Connolly, Bradley Cooper, Scarlett Johansson, Drew Barrymore
Ah, love with the tenacious fangs of fear pressed against one’s throat. This film explores the myriad ways the beasts creeps in to devour the unwitting who necessarily succumb to its charms and derelictions.
The film follows the lives of numerous characters as they walk the tightrope between pleasure and emotional pain. Gigi (Goodwin) is a sweet girl who finds her self struggling to understand the motives and behaviors of guys. She frets that Conor (Connolly) hasn’t called her back after a single date. Desperately she consults her friends Beth (Aniston) and Janine (Connelly) and they aren’t quite able to calm her down. Out of desperation she asks bar owner Alex (Long) for advice and he informs her that if a guy doesn’t pursue a woman directly he’s not interested. This advice helps Gigi and leads her in a direction that ultimately allows her to find someone who is into her completely and effortlessly.
Beth and Neil (Affleck) have been seeing each other for seven years but Neil refuses to pop the question because he doesn’t believe in marriage. Beth takes it in stride although she repeatedly makes her feelings felt on the matter. Janine and Ben (Cooper) have been married for seven years and consider themselves happy. However, Ben meets Anna (Johansson) at a grocery store and beings a romance with her. It is revealed that the marriage isn’t exactly ideal and that Janine is upset that Ben has lied to her about not smoking. Anna is sort of dating Conor but she won’t sleep with him again and this arrangement upsets Conor who wants more. Mary promotes Conor’s real estate business but is the only character who is not pursuing nor is pursued by any potential suitors.
The film does an adequate job juggling its many narratives. There’s a naturalness about each of the characters and their plights are presented in a matter-of-fact way that is bereft of sentimentality and over-reaching. Once the dynamics are set up the film just allows the characters to follow their perspective paths until they ultimately collide in various levels. There is tremendous strain in this film as ideas about what each character wants continually shift. There is no set grounding for any of the characters as mooring is repeatedly kicked aside in a painstaking effort for release of some sort.
Gigi is the narrator and perhaps the most significant character in the film. Her hysterical reactions to feeling left out and abandoned resonate throughout the entire film. She longs for the one true love and seems to want to be rescued from herself and her neurotic tendencies. She is the image of impatience and demands that it happen to her right now. It isn’t until she realizes her folly that she is able to open herself up to love and indeed it takes the release of very harsh but revealing words to a man for the air to be cleared leaving true feelings to reveal themselves. She lambasts him and he realizes that her rings sting with truth. Up to that point he had denied his true feelings for Gigi and even pushed her off when she tried to kiss him after staying until 3 in the morning helping him clean up after a party. She is able to read his signals of desire that he is not able to recognize. It is clear upon their first meeting that they are going to hook up by film’s end. Indeed, all the relationship issues solve themselves eventually.
The film navigates through decidedly treacherous waters. There is deceit, suppressed longing and insecurities on display as each character demonstrates a not so perfect grasp on their situation. There is pain here but it is superceded by contentment. There doesn’t seem to be any unabashed demonstration of love, however. Every character lazily moves about and nothing they do seems to suggest intense and undying love. Mostly what is on display here is the belief that a person isn’t quite whole unless they have convinced another person to share entirely in their life. These characters are all fragmented and works in progress. None of them seem particularly fulfilled in their lives despite their various careers and the fact that they have found that someone who may or may not to prove themselves willing and ready for the long haul. Still, that seems to be the direction the film is heading although there is an ambiguous display of marriage.
Another idea voiced by the character Mary is that when you are married to someone and you meet someone else who you connect with on every level, are you supposed to just let that person go by? Ben is the embodiment of this predicament. Even though they were not having sex he believed, because he enjoyed the rut they were in, that things were working out. However, he meets Anna and suddenly the game changes for him and he realizes he has stumbled precisely into the same situation described by Mary. There is intense chemistry between these two characters and the obvious can not be effectively denied. He wants her but hesitates because he honestly believes he cannot betray his wife. Still, he gives in to his temptation and effectively destroys his marriage even though Janine puts on a brave face once he reveals the truth to her. She is impossibly strong after his announcement and states evenly and cooly that it’s something they can work through and doesn’t necessarily have to lead to a separation. Ben is perfectly willing to break it off perhaps because he has already in his mind decided to leave Janine and will latch on any excuse to do so.
There isn’t a whole lot of sexual chemistry in this film between any of the characters and little magic. There is only the satisfaction that these characters one has spent over two hours with have found someone who reflects themselves back to them with clarity and honesty. The film makes out this process to be trying and difficult and capable of convincing a person that the quest is not worth it and the only recourse is to get out of the game entirely. This is not an option in this film because each character is driven by the desire to justify themselves in the eyes of another person who redeems them to a certain degree. These characters all seek such redemption and seem unable to find it by any other source. There is tremendous anxiety throughout this film and significant insecurity. The characters seem unable to tackle life without the crutch of another person to lean on. There is ambition here and an effort to foster change in the lives of some of the characters. There is drive and at least a level of understanding.
The performances in this film are all infectious. Bradley Cooper is dynamic and impossibly charming throughout. He exudes an air of confidence that most likely comes from a lifetime of play. Ginnifer Goodwin is captivating in her character’s neurosis. She naturally conveys Gigi’s startling need for reassurance that she is worthy of a man’s attention and affection. Jennifer Aniston routinely presents her character’s empathic nature and comes off as entirely sympathetic. There is an earnestness about Beth that Aniston genuinely affects throughout. Scarlett Johannson is slinky and well-grounded in her sexuality. She presents a character who is tingling with a robust, expressive erotic appeal. She’s the one character who truly seems comfortable in her immaculate skin. Justin Long captures Alex’s understanding nature as well as his role as a harbinger of cold, hard truth. Jennifer Connelly is iconic and devastatingly present throughout this film. She’s got a iciness and a fortitude about her that comes across periodically. Ben Affleck is typically solid in this role. Neil is initially impenetrable and Affleck demonstrates his gradual softening and openness. Kevin Connolly is quite good at demonstrating Conor’s neediness and his cool discharge of emotions. Drew Barrymore is earthy and perpetually calm yet decisive throughout the film. Mary is not particularly neurotic and seems to know what she wants unlike most of the other characters.
Overall, this film offers an appetizing dish of anxiety and fear throughout. It’s fairly even handed between the males and females and seems relatively honest about the motivations that drive people to crash into each other all in the name of commitment and sexual satiation. These characters are all driven by aspects of their relationships with members of the opposite sex. There’s not much room in this film for personal growth save the occasional realization that one is behaving like a coward or a jerk and needs more than they are willing to admit to themselves. The performances are natural and all convey the myriad complexities that go into anyone who has difficulty nailing down what they actually want.
Film Review--Confessions of a Shopaholic
Confessions of a Shopaholic
directed by P. J. Hogan
written by Tracey Jackson, Tim Firth, Kayla Alpert
starring Isla Fisher, Hugh Dancy, Krysten Ritter, Joan Cusack, John Goodman, John Lithgow, Kristen Scott Thomas, Leslie Bibb, Robert Stanton
Rebecca Bloomwood (Fisher) loves the smell of Bloomingdale’s in the morning. She loves the carpets, drapes and especially the elegance of the mannequins and the methodology inherent in the displays of shoes, scarves and perfume. To her shopping is the closest she is ever going to get to a religious experience. Unfortunately she has spent way past her limits and is facing debt collectors, particularly a very insistent one named Derek Smeath (Stanton) whose ubiquitous presence in this film is a clear warning to all of those who find themselves purchasing things they don’t need at over 18 3/4 percent.
The film does a fine job setting up Rebecca as a little girl who refuses to grow up. She’s hysterical for much of the film because the big bad wolf is threatening her at every turn and she’s desperate to escape his clutches. But there is no way one can avoid the wolf forever; eventually he will pounce and devour his tender prey. Derek Smeath is of course that wolf and he is as persistent as a would-be suitor.
There is one purchase Rebecca makes which proves to be valuable and fortuitous. She finds a green scarf that she buys after a tremendous ordeal. She wears the scarf to an interview with Successful Saving magazine where she apprehends the man named Luke Brandon (Dancy) who gave her $20 in the street so she could buy a scarf for her sick Aunt. She stashes the scarf only to have it returned to her by a secretary. Later she writes a scathing letter to Brandon, the editor of the magazine, and submits an article to Alette magazine but manages to slip each letter into the wrong envelope. Brandon reads her article breaking down the ways in which women purchase shoes and is exceedingly impressed. She signs the article with the name, “The Girl in the Green Scarf” and it becomes an international media sensation that gives the little shoppers rag a high profile.
Rebecca lives with the terrible secret about her debt situation because she is promoting herself as a paragon of frugality. She begins to attend “Shopaholics anonymous” meetings but her first visit she spends her introductory time luxuriating over the ecstasy of finding something new to buy. Rebecca struggles with her addiction and keeps backsliding although for the most part she keeps it in check. It slowly cedes in its significance in her life leaving a massive gap that needs to be filled. Previously the shopping filled up the part of her that for most people is filled with love. As she has no room to love anything that isn’t shiny, glittery and/or expensive, everything else remains outside of her. It isn’t until she completely gets to the root of the problem that she is allowed to love.
The addiction side of this story is fascinating. Rebecca creates her own set of steps to achieving her goal of becoming debt free. She recognizes her problem, she takes steps to ensure that she doesn’t lose herself again (destroying most of her credit cards), she experiences tremendous fear over the implications of what she has done, she sabotages her relationships with everyone she cares about, she takes a drastic and painful measure in order to solve her immediate problem, she ostensibly learns from her experience and doesn’t return to her wholly reckless past.
Being a rom-com, the purpose of this film is to bring the male and female leads together for one great, scintillating kiss or embrace. It’s the main reasons these films exist for their mostly female audiences; women seem to be drawn to happily-ever-afters perhaps because they provide such an intoxicating jolt of hope and possibility. They are shiny, comforting, and warm; they are drenched with longing, achievement and tense emotional connections that resonate with women. Men are for the most part hoping to laugh but otherwise checking their watch routinely and planning their escape route.
The perils of unheeded consumption play out effectively in this film. There seems to be a message here regarding the compunction toward purchasing material goods just for the sake of it and not because any of the items are actually necessary. Rebecca spends roughly a thousand dollars per month on shoes, scarves, handbags and clothes not because she needs them but because the act of shopping fulfills a need that is otherwise not met. She is addicted to the feeling that overwhelms her when she hands over her credit card and realizes that what she has purchased belongs emphatically to her and to noone else. Yet, she knows the transaction is superfluous and this realization hits her soon after she exits the store. She fills her apartment with hope for something more than the meager existence she has eked out for herself in her new life.
Rebecca’s parents, Jane (Cusack) and Graham (Goodman) have always been frugal and responsible with their money. As a little girl Rebecca dreamed of fancy clothes, accessories, and essentially anything that spoke of glamour to her. However, her parents preached practicality above all else and she was unable to fulfill her fairy land fantasies and was routinely disappointed. There is a sense that she rebelled entirely against her parent’s position by going in the extreme opposite direction. As she sits before them anticipating that they are about to announce that they are leaving her their nest egg, which they have accumulated by a lifetime of saving, she is again disappointed when the tell her they have purchased a large RV which they have dreamed about for many years. It’s a crushing blow but not one that utterly deflates Rebecca’s sense of Self. She rebounds from the shock gallantly and ultimately lands on her feet for perhaps the first time in her entire life.
When Rebecca’s friend Suze (Ritter) announces she is getting married, she provides Rebecca with a colorful, playful bridesmaid dress. At the same time the editor of Alette magazine, Alette Naylor, convinces Rebecca to purchase a dress that costs her more than a month’s salary and which she is supposed to wear on television. At the “Shopaholics Anonymous” meeting she is forced to make a choice between the two dresses. This marks the beginning of Rebecca’s true recovery from her addiction. It also puts her firmly and squarely at rock bottom where she must gather up her resources in order to violently extract herself from her overbearing and stifling situation. She makes one final decision that alters the course of her life permanently. In dramatic fashion she unburdens herself and at least temporarily sets her self free.
The performances in this film are all impressive. Isla Fisher exudes an easy charm which makes her character infinitely likable. It’s a joy to watch Rebecca stumble about, literally tripping over her own feet and causing considerable chaos on several occasions. She starts the film as a fledgling that has fallen out of the nest. She is unable to right herself and uses shopping as a survival mechanism. Fisher captures both the sincerity of the character as well as her impetuous nature. Hugh Dancy is very charming and exceedingly grounded in this film. He exudes an easy charisma that allows his character to be a touch stone for Rebecca’s manic flights of fancy. John Goodman is rock solid and Joan Cusack is effective as a woman who has denied herself for so many years. It’s enjoyable to watch as she finally reaches a place where she can finally treat herself. Krysten Ritter is dynamic as the best friend whose role is to remind Rebecca of her excesses and casually instruct her as to the nature of her ills. Kristin Scott Thomas is the embodiment of glamor and carries herself with tremendous confidence throughout the film. John Lithgow effortlessly plays the man who pulls the strings.
Overall, this film ably comments on America’s shopping addiction through the eyes of a young girl who cannot resist the feel of a new cashmere sweater simply because it exists and she doesn’t own it. There are many such stories and they are nearly all driven by the same desire. Rebecca finds herself swamped in debt and as the film opens unable to dig herself out. She doesn’t recognize the signs of sickness until she faces the truly evil debt collectors who insidiously and incessantly stalk their victims using every form of psychological torture at their disposal. It’s telling that Derek Smeath (a brilliantly slimy name) is such a nefarious presence in this film. Perhaps it’s a comment on the tactics that credit card companies use to lure the unsuspecting into a trap of debt which is exacerbated by interest and a maddening array of charges for late payments and other minor infractions. Rebecca is simply caught up in the frantic pace of modern life and she doesn’t want to be left out. She wants only to be afforded the opportunity to at least appear that she’s up to date.
directed by P. J. Hogan
written by Tracey Jackson, Tim Firth, Kayla Alpert
starring Isla Fisher, Hugh Dancy, Krysten Ritter, Joan Cusack, John Goodman, John Lithgow, Kristen Scott Thomas, Leslie Bibb, Robert Stanton
Rebecca Bloomwood (Fisher) loves the smell of Bloomingdale’s in the morning. She loves the carpets, drapes and especially the elegance of the mannequins and the methodology inherent in the displays of shoes, scarves and perfume. To her shopping is the closest she is ever going to get to a religious experience. Unfortunately she has spent way past her limits and is facing debt collectors, particularly a very insistent one named Derek Smeath (Stanton) whose ubiquitous presence in this film is a clear warning to all of those who find themselves purchasing things they don’t need at over 18 3/4 percent.
The film does a fine job setting up Rebecca as a little girl who refuses to grow up. She’s hysterical for much of the film because the big bad wolf is threatening her at every turn and she’s desperate to escape his clutches. But there is no way one can avoid the wolf forever; eventually he will pounce and devour his tender prey. Derek Smeath is of course that wolf and he is as persistent as a would-be suitor.
There is one purchase Rebecca makes which proves to be valuable and fortuitous. She finds a green scarf that she buys after a tremendous ordeal. She wears the scarf to an interview with Successful Saving magazine where she apprehends the man named Luke Brandon (Dancy) who gave her $20 in the street so she could buy a scarf for her sick Aunt. She stashes the scarf only to have it returned to her by a secretary. Later she writes a scathing letter to Brandon, the editor of the magazine, and submits an article to Alette magazine but manages to slip each letter into the wrong envelope. Brandon reads her article breaking down the ways in which women purchase shoes and is exceedingly impressed. She signs the article with the name, “The Girl in the Green Scarf” and it becomes an international media sensation that gives the little shoppers rag a high profile.
Rebecca lives with the terrible secret about her debt situation because she is promoting herself as a paragon of frugality. She begins to attend “Shopaholics anonymous” meetings but her first visit she spends her introductory time luxuriating over the ecstasy of finding something new to buy. Rebecca struggles with her addiction and keeps backsliding although for the most part she keeps it in check. It slowly cedes in its significance in her life leaving a massive gap that needs to be filled. Previously the shopping filled up the part of her that for most people is filled with love. As she has no room to love anything that isn’t shiny, glittery and/or expensive, everything else remains outside of her. It isn’t until she completely gets to the root of the problem that she is allowed to love.
The addiction side of this story is fascinating. Rebecca creates her own set of steps to achieving her goal of becoming debt free. She recognizes her problem, she takes steps to ensure that she doesn’t lose herself again (destroying most of her credit cards), she experiences tremendous fear over the implications of what she has done, she sabotages her relationships with everyone she cares about, she takes a drastic and painful measure in order to solve her immediate problem, she ostensibly learns from her experience and doesn’t return to her wholly reckless past.
Being a rom-com, the purpose of this film is to bring the male and female leads together for one great, scintillating kiss or embrace. It’s the main reasons these films exist for their mostly female audiences; women seem to be drawn to happily-ever-afters perhaps because they provide such an intoxicating jolt of hope and possibility. They are shiny, comforting, and warm; they are drenched with longing, achievement and tense emotional connections that resonate with women. Men are for the most part hoping to laugh but otherwise checking their watch routinely and planning their escape route.
The perils of unheeded consumption play out effectively in this film. There seems to be a message here regarding the compunction toward purchasing material goods just for the sake of it and not because any of the items are actually necessary. Rebecca spends roughly a thousand dollars per month on shoes, scarves, handbags and clothes not because she needs them but because the act of shopping fulfills a need that is otherwise not met. She is addicted to the feeling that overwhelms her when she hands over her credit card and realizes that what she has purchased belongs emphatically to her and to noone else. Yet, she knows the transaction is superfluous and this realization hits her soon after she exits the store. She fills her apartment with hope for something more than the meager existence she has eked out for herself in her new life.
Rebecca’s parents, Jane (Cusack) and Graham (Goodman) have always been frugal and responsible with their money. As a little girl Rebecca dreamed of fancy clothes, accessories, and essentially anything that spoke of glamour to her. However, her parents preached practicality above all else and she was unable to fulfill her fairy land fantasies and was routinely disappointed. There is a sense that she rebelled entirely against her parent’s position by going in the extreme opposite direction. As she sits before them anticipating that they are about to announce that they are leaving her their nest egg, which they have accumulated by a lifetime of saving, she is again disappointed when the tell her they have purchased a large RV which they have dreamed about for many years. It’s a crushing blow but not one that utterly deflates Rebecca’s sense of Self. She rebounds from the shock gallantly and ultimately lands on her feet for perhaps the first time in her entire life.
When Rebecca’s friend Suze (Ritter) announces she is getting married, she provides Rebecca with a colorful, playful bridesmaid dress. At the same time the editor of Alette magazine, Alette Naylor, convinces Rebecca to purchase a dress that costs her more than a month’s salary and which she is supposed to wear on television. At the “Shopaholics Anonymous” meeting she is forced to make a choice between the two dresses. This marks the beginning of Rebecca’s true recovery from her addiction. It also puts her firmly and squarely at rock bottom where she must gather up her resources in order to violently extract herself from her overbearing and stifling situation. She makes one final decision that alters the course of her life permanently. In dramatic fashion she unburdens herself and at least temporarily sets her self free.
The performances in this film are all impressive. Isla Fisher exudes an easy charm which makes her character infinitely likable. It’s a joy to watch Rebecca stumble about, literally tripping over her own feet and causing considerable chaos on several occasions. She starts the film as a fledgling that has fallen out of the nest. She is unable to right herself and uses shopping as a survival mechanism. Fisher captures both the sincerity of the character as well as her impetuous nature. Hugh Dancy is very charming and exceedingly grounded in this film. He exudes an easy charisma that allows his character to be a touch stone for Rebecca’s manic flights of fancy. John Goodman is rock solid and Joan Cusack is effective as a woman who has denied herself for so many years. It’s enjoyable to watch as she finally reaches a place where she can finally treat herself. Krysten Ritter is dynamic as the best friend whose role is to remind Rebecca of her excesses and casually instruct her as to the nature of her ills. Kristin Scott Thomas is the embodiment of glamor and carries herself with tremendous confidence throughout the film. John Lithgow effortlessly plays the man who pulls the strings.
Overall, this film ably comments on America’s shopping addiction through the eyes of a young girl who cannot resist the feel of a new cashmere sweater simply because it exists and she doesn’t own it. There are many such stories and they are nearly all driven by the same desire. Rebecca finds herself swamped in debt and as the film opens unable to dig herself out. She doesn’t recognize the signs of sickness until she faces the truly evil debt collectors who insidiously and incessantly stalk their victims using every form of psychological torture at their disposal. It’s telling that Derek Smeath (a brilliantly slimy name) is such a nefarious presence in this film. Perhaps it’s a comment on the tactics that credit card companies use to lure the unsuspecting into a trap of debt which is exacerbated by interest and a maddening array of charges for late payments and other minor infractions. Rebecca is simply caught up in the frantic pace of modern life and she doesn’t want to be left out. She wants only to be afforded the opportunity to at least appear that she’s up to date.
Film Review--Andy Warhol's Heat
Andy Warhol’s Heat
written and directed by Paul Morrissey
starring Joe Dallesandro, Andrea Feldman, Sylvia Miles, Pat Ast, Lester Persky, Harold Childe, Bonnie Walder, Ray Vestal, Eric Emerson, John Hallowell, Gary Koznocha
A young hustler ingratiates his way into the sodden life of a washed up TV actress while trying to fend off the manic attentions of her possibly psychotic daughter.
Joey Davis (Dallesandro) was once a famed child actor who starred on a long running TV Western show. He’s slumming it momentarily at a dingy motel waiting for his agent to give him some papers to sign regarding a record deal. The motel is populated with the typical Hollywood weirdos including a two brother nightclub act who engage is sexual activities to climax their show. One of these brothers walks around in a daze and really enjoys masturbating by the pool. Apparently he’s mute and he spends most of the film in a long white cotton dress.
Joey finds his time by the pool rather enjoyable. His star power radiates throughout the motel and many of its denizens hold him in some kind of sick awe. Basically, he seems disinterested in most of anything but takes advantage of situations as they arise. One of these involves the manager of the hotel, a woman named Lydia. She convinces him to let her give him a massage and things quickly turn randy as he massages her breasts while she coos. She promises him reduced rent which she tells him he is going to have to pay every night. Again, he’s casual about the arrangement and doesn’t get too caught up in its inherent drama.
Jessica Todd (Feldman) is a high strung girl who is living at the motel with her girlfriend Bonnie (Walder) and her infant son. There’s a long gag about whether or not Jessica is truly a lesbian or not. She seems unable to convince her mother Sally (Miles) of this fact and later decides she’s not a lesbian after all upon discovering her deep seated lust for Joey.
The film is mostly dialog and it all comes across organically and indeed some of it is improvised by the actors. The set design is simple and straightforward. There are several scenes in an old rustic mansion that lend a grandiosity to the film and the actors in their roles.
The camera simply adores Joe Dallesandro who again proves himself to be an exceedingly natural performer and he eases into every scene. There are many close-ups of Joe’s face and it’s not terribly difficult to read his thoughts or intentions. Still, he’s consumed with charm that can only come from an actor who is very glad to be in his skin.
Sally comes about to give Jessica money and meets Joey with whom she starred in that TV show a few years back. Immediately its obvious that something’s going down between these two and their attraction quickly turns to sex. Sally is desperate about her looks and still maintains she’s a big star even though all she’s done is game shows for the past several years. Basically nobody remembers her and she’s clinging to this belief that she still matters in Hollywood. Unfortunately she’s dead weight and her lust after the much younger Joey comes off as rather pathetic.
Joey moves into the mansion and quickly becomes tired of Sally and bored out of his mind. He’s got things to do and all Sally does is hold him back because she’s too lonely or she can’t bear to lose him to another woman. Whatever the reason, he manages to get out but not before having to deal with Jessica’s advances. Jessica is truly unhinged which is evidenced by one scene when she bursts in on Lydia and Joey’s foreplay complaining that the cigarette burns that Bonnie has administered to her are stinging. She cries for a bit and suddenly bursts out laughing before returning to her crying jag. She’s the kind of girl who seemingly either hasn’t got enough attention in her life or too much. She doesn’t know who the father of her son is and she seems not to have had a very close relationship with either her father or step father. She’s broke, without means to support herself, and in an abusive relationship with a bull dyke who enjoys slapping her around and burning her with the aforementioned cigarettes.
Essentially, this is a tale about terribly messed up family dynamics in situations where there is a whole lot of talking but little listening. Jessica is seventeen years old and honestly shouldn’t have to slum it at a cheap motel with her son. There is absolutely no reason for this but her mother thinks she’s too crazy and clearly wants to keep her at arms length. At one point she tells Jessica that she’ll take care of the baby but that Jessica cannot come live with her. She claims she means that Jessica cannot bring Bonnie with her but her actual meaning seems clear enough. She also says that she wishes she was a lesbian because she wouldn’t have had Jessica and subsequently wouldn’t have to deal with “this mess”. Jessica for her part claims to hate her mother although this doesn’t stop her from begging for money at every turn. Joey stumbles unwittingly into the fracas and all he has to do is lay back and be magnetic.
This film is highly sexualized from start to finish and it all centers around Joey Davis. All the women in the film want to get into his shorts and none of them are at all subtle about it. He takes advantage of all comers including receiving a blow job from a dandy named Harold (Childe). His life is made easy by his physique and his low key, casual attitude. He sleeps with these women because he can but mostly because it hopes it can bring him benefits such as furthering his career. He gets clothes out of Sally but little else. She simply doesn’t have any pull anymore and all her attempts to drum up some interest in Joey fall terribly flat.
The performances in this film are uniformly excellent. Sylvia Miles commands the screen throughout the film yet she allows her fellow actors to break through and shine as appropriate. Her character is dynamic, like a whirlwind that has the capacity to destroy a whole city block. Andrea Feldman is a torch lighting an darkened abattoir. Her perormance resonates with a truthfulness that is rare in cinema. One gets the impression that her character is a real person with the ability to cause real emotional reactions to her words and deeds. Her postures, mannerisms and affectations stay with the viewer long after the film has ended. Hers is one of those characters who truly put their fangs into one’s brain and will not let go. Joe Dallesandro is, again, wholly natural and clean in this role. He’s all grown up in this role in comparison to the naif he played in 1970's “Trash”, also directed by Paul Morrissey. Pat Ast is very impressive here as Lydia the motel’s manager. She delivers all her lines with a tremendous confidence and conviction which gives them an emphatic sense of truth no matter how outrageous they might seem at the outset.
Overall, this film is a oft-brilliant depiction of the ugly side of the glamourous life. These are characters who end up living a particularly empty life at their own hand. Joey Davis is able to get what he wants at every turn because of his body and his past but he just throws it away when he gets it because he’s terminally bored with everything and can commit to nothing. Jessica is little girl gone wrong because emotionally she may have been deprived for long stretches of her life when her mother was away working for TV. Regardless, her violent mood swings and general flightiness are not characteristics one generally wants to see in a new mother. She shows no lasting indication that she even wants the baby, referring to him as “it”. There’s a very real sense that everyone in this film is in a state of arrested development. None of them act as mature persons act and they all throw fits when they don’t get what they want. Joey’s fits are subtler but he acts up when things don’t seem to be going his way. Jessica positively shakes and almost froths at the mouth when she’s agitated. Even Lydia seems unable to fully face herself and make up her mind. She’s locked in on this job managing the motel but its clear she’s just biding time until something better comes along. None of these people know much about the direction they are headed in. They just do things for immediate satisfaction and pay no mind to the consequences of their actions.
written and directed by Paul Morrissey
starring Joe Dallesandro, Andrea Feldman, Sylvia Miles, Pat Ast, Lester Persky, Harold Childe, Bonnie Walder, Ray Vestal, Eric Emerson, John Hallowell, Gary Koznocha
A young hustler ingratiates his way into the sodden life of a washed up TV actress while trying to fend off the manic attentions of her possibly psychotic daughter.
Joey Davis (Dallesandro) was once a famed child actor who starred on a long running TV Western show. He’s slumming it momentarily at a dingy motel waiting for his agent to give him some papers to sign regarding a record deal. The motel is populated with the typical Hollywood weirdos including a two brother nightclub act who engage is sexual activities to climax their show. One of these brothers walks around in a daze and really enjoys masturbating by the pool. Apparently he’s mute and he spends most of the film in a long white cotton dress.
Joey finds his time by the pool rather enjoyable. His star power radiates throughout the motel and many of its denizens hold him in some kind of sick awe. Basically, he seems disinterested in most of anything but takes advantage of situations as they arise. One of these involves the manager of the hotel, a woman named Lydia. She convinces him to let her give him a massage and things quickly turn randy as he massages her breasts while she coos. She promises him reduced rent which she tells him he is going to have to pay every night. Again, he’s casual about the arrangement and doesn’t get too caught up in its inherent drama.
Jessica Todd (Feldman) is a high strung girl who is living at the motel with her girlfriend Bonnie (Walder) and her infant son. There’s a long gag about whether or not Jessica is truly a lesbian or not. She seems unable to convince her mother Sally (Miles) of this fact and later decides she’s not a lesbian after all upon discovering her deep seated lust for Joey.
The film is mostly dialog and it all comes across organically and indeed some of it is improvised by the actors. The set design is simple and straightforward. There are several scenes in an old rustic mansion that lend a grandiosity to the film and the actors in their roles.
The camera simply adores Joe Dallesandro who again proves himself to be an exceedingly natural performer and he eases into every scene. There are many close-ups of Joe’s face and it’s not terribly difficult to read his thoughts or intentions. Still, he’s consumed with charm that can only come from an actor who is very glad to be in his skin.
Sally comes about to give Jessica money and meets Joey with whom she starred in that TV show a few years back. Immediately its obvious that something’s going down between these two and their attraction quickly turns to sex. Sally is desperate about her looks and still maintains she’s a big star even though all she’s done is game shows for the past several years. Basically nobody remembers her and she’s clinging to this belief that she still matters in Hollywood. Unfortunately she’s dead weight and her lust after the much younger Joey comes off as rather pathetic.
Joey moves into the mansion and quickly becomes tired of Sally and bored out of his mind. He’s got things to do and all Sally does is hold him back because she’s too lonely or she can’t bear to lose him to another woman. Whatever the reason, he manages to get out but not before having to deal with Jessica’s advances. Jessica is truly unhinged which is evidenced by one scene when she bursts in on Lydia and Joey’s foreplay complaining that the cigarette burns that Bonnie has administered to her are stinging. She cries for a bit and suddenly bursts out laughing before returning to her crying jag. She’s the kind of girl who seemingly either hasn’t got enough attention in her life or too much. She doesn’t know who the father of her son is and she seems not to have had a very close relationship with either her father or step father. She’s broke, without means to support herself, and in an abusive relationship with a bull dyke who enjoys slapping her around and burning her with the aforementioned cigarettes.
Essentially, this is a tale about terribly messed up family dynamics in situations where there is a whole lot of talking but little listening. Jessica is seventeen years old and honestly shouldn’t have to slum it at a cheap motel with her son. There is absolutely no reason for this but her mother thinks she’s too crazy and clearly wants to keep her at arms length. At one point she tells Jessica that she’ll take care of the baby but that Jessica cannot come live with her. She claims she means that Jessica cannot bring Bonnie with her but her actual meaning seems clear enough. She also says that she wishes she was a lesbian because she wouldn’t have had Jessica and subsequently wouldn’t have to deal with “this mess”. Jessica for her part claims to hate her mother although this doesn’t stop her from begging for money at every turn. Joey stumbles unwittingly into the fracas and all he has to do is lay back and be magnetic.
This film is highly sexualized from start to finish and it all centers around Joey Davis. All the women in the film want to get into his shorts and none of them are at all subtle about it. He takes advantage of all comers including receiving a blow job from a dandy named Harold (Childe). His life is made easy by his physique and his low key, casual attitude. He sleeps with these women because he can but mostly because it hopes it can bring him benefits such as furthering his career. He gets clothes out of Sally but little else. She simply doesn’t have any pull anymore and all her attempts to drum up some interest in Joey fall terribly flat.
The performances in this film are uniformly excellent. Sylvia Miles commands the screen throughout the film yet she allows her fellow actors to break through and shine as appropriate. Her character is dynamic, like a whirlwind that has the capacity to destroy a whole city block. Andrea Feldman is a torch lighting an darkened abattoir. Her perormance resonates with a truthfulness that is rare in cinema. One gets the impression that her character is a real person with the ability to cause real emotional reactions to her words and deeds. Her postures, mannerisms and affectations stay with the viewer long after the film has ended. Hers is one of those characters who truly put their fangs into one’s brain and will not let go. Joe Dallesandro is, again, wholly natural and clean in this role. He’s all grown up in this role in comparison to the naif he played in 1970's “Trash”, also directed by Paul Morrissey. Pat Ast is very impressive here as Lydia the motel’s manager. She delivers all her lines with a tremendous confidence and conviction which gives them an emphatic sense of truth no matter how outrageous they might seem at the outset.
Overall, this film is a oft-brilliant depiction of the ugly side of the glamourous life. These are characters who end up living a particularly empty life at their own hand. Joey Davis is able to get what he wants at every turn because of his body and his past but he just throws it away when he gets it because he’s terminally bored with everything and can commit to nothing. Jessica is little girl gone wrong because emotionally she may have been deprived for long stretches of her life when her mother was away working for TV. Regardless, her violent mood swings and general flightiness are not characteristics one generally wants to see in a new mother. She shows no lasting indication that she even wants the baby, referring to him as “it”. There’s a very real sense that everyone in this film is in a state of arrested development. None of them act as mature persons act and they all throw fits when they don’t get what they want. Joey’s fits are subtler but he acts up when things don’t seem to be going his way. Jessica positively shakes and almost froths at the mouth when she’s agitated. Even Lydia seems unable to fully face herself and make up her mind. She’s locked in on this job managing the motel but its clear she’s just biding time until something better comes along. None of these people know much about the direction they are headed in. They just do things for immediate satisfaction and pay no mind to the consequences of their actions.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Film Review--Taken
Taken (2008)
directed by Pierre Morel
written by Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen
starring Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Arben Bajraktaraj, Holly Valance, Nicolas Giraud, Xander Berkeley, Katie Cassidy
Despite a number of rather improbable coincidences this film proves to be an exceedingly elegant story of the intensity of a father’s love for his daughter.
Brian Mills (Neeson) is an ex-CIA operative who has recently retired to spend more time with his daughter Kim (Grace). He is somewhat estranged from Kim because he hasn’t always been around due to his career and she has found parental guidance in her step-father Brian (Berkeley) who she lives with along with her mother Lanore (Janssen.
One of the central moments in this film involves Kim’s abduction at the hands of Albanians who ultimately plan on selling her to a Sheik. The camera and music create a tense situation that is fraught with danger. It is held together by Neeson’s steady, calm response to the terror that is afflicting his character’s daughter on the other end of the phone. She is in Paris with her friend Amanda (Cassidy) and the pair plan on following U2 across Europe. They meet a young man named Peter (Giraud) who shares a cab with them to Amanda’s cousin’s residence where they are to stay for the duration of their visit. Peter calls someone and quickly thereafter the girls are dragged away.
This is a story in which it is absurdly easy to get behind the central character. Neeson never lets us to forget the severity of his mission as he summons up his immense skills to track down the men responsible for capturing his daughter. Mills is relentless in his pursuit and of the mind set that it’s much better to shoot first than to wait around and see who’s holding. He is the ultimate action hero because he is fighting for something that is so personally precious to him and he is not about to suffer the guilt that would inevitably collapse his world should he fail. Indeed, failure is not an option here and so he goes about working his way up the ladder until he inevitably reaches the final pillar and must face to face with the devil himself or at least one of his representatives.
The film’s look is intoxicating throughout. The cinematography by Michel Abramowicz is clean, crisp and economical. It is tinged with an impossible sheen that is remarkably restrained. It creates a sense of glamour but nevertheless does not effectively glamorize the killings be committed at every turn.
Much of the power in this film originates through Mills’s grim, incessant determination to save his daughter from a life of sure ruin. It’s vigilante justice taken to a menacing, purposeful extreme. One is constantly reminded of the nefarious nature of the world that Mills is entering and his almost puritanical zeal for the safe return of his loved one. His tremendous capabilities for torture and combat plus his fearless mien are routinely demonstrated in swift, controlled movements that provide him with the proper inroads into solving the pressing dilemma before him.
This film introduces its central characters with a decisive lack of urgency. We meet them and immediately identify with whatever course of action they are to take. It’s a very simple approach that so many films fail to undertake. In this film it matters because the interpersonal relationships here are vital to understanding Mills’s motivation and his sense of futility in his relationship with Kim. In a few short minutes we know the dynamics and we know what is at stake for Mills. He is presented as a loving father who is trying to make up for lost time yet faces the reality of another man, a rich and genuine man, in his daughter’s life. It is clear that he has failed Kim in some sense and that this fact upsets him intensely.
There are moments in this film that seem to be improbable in their execution. Mills goes to the apartment Kim and Amanda were to stay in and removes a photo card from her camera. He investigates the images and finds one of a man he immediately suspects as being the spotter who set up the initial transaction. From that single photo he is able to track the man down and interrogate him only to lose him in the end. It is difficult to believe that he was able to accomplish all of this with nothing but a blurred photo to go on. One wonders how he knew where to go in such a massive city to find the man responsible for setting the chain in motion that inevitably leads to the Sheik.
The use in this film of the international selling of Western girls to Albanians most likely has ramifications in Albanian communities world wide. It’s an utterly corrupt depiction that presents the Albanians as wholly devious and monstrous. There is nothing whatsoever about them that is remotely likable; they come off as cruel and menacing businessmen who capitalize on the existence of a steady flow of easy prey into the cities. This is a film that expresses a very real and terrible fear that such events may occur at any given time. It presents naive and industrious girls who unwittingly stumble into traps that are set under the most innocent pretexts. They fall for the charm of a spotter who quietly ingratiates himself into their lives by playing on their trust. This film focuses on the simplicity of such an arrangement and demonstrates just how easy it is to mark certain females and wrestle them into a life devoid of hope, where they are made perpetually high, and forced to engage in activities with much older men who treat them like chattle.
The performances in this film are all dynamic and natural. Liam Neeson captivates from start to finish with a character who is fraught with complications but who is able to act in a decisive manner when the situation calls for it. He’s confident in his abilities but not so confident when it comes to the relationship he has with his daughter. It is here that Neeson demonstrates a tremendous range of emotion. During his mission he is driven and focused and tends to show little emotion. With Kim, his disposition is entirely different. He’s open, expressive, and clearly driven by a great love he knows he has almost let slip away. Maggie Grace is extraordinary in this film. She captures her character’s desire to expand and connect with a world much larger than what she has thus far experienced. One gets an immediate sense of her excitement as she makes her plans for heading to Paris. Also, she demonstrates on at least two occasions the fact that she really is barely seventeen and in many ways still a little girl who runs in to her father’s arms and clings madly to him. Famke Janssen’s character is captivating and aggressively disdainful of her ex-husband throughout much of the film. Lenore doesn’t give Mills any space in this film and holds him responsible for his lack of involvement in Kim’s life.
Overall, this is a scintillating film that creates a world of despair and destruction that its central character must fight, using his arsenal of skills, to combat. It’s the classic story of one man fighting for a just cause who must use any means necessary to achieve his aim. There is a sense of freshness in how this film approaches its subject and it never feels strained or superficial. The tension is on from the moment Kim and Amanda are abducted and it never abates straight through to the end. These ultimately are characters worth caring about and this has everything to do with the performances. They are astute at conveying the myriad complexities that haunt each of their lives and the end result is a film that is an exploration of a blistering reality that effects many young women worldwide every year.
directed by Pierre Morel
written by Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen
starring Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Arben Bajraktaraj, Holly Valance, Nicolas Giraud, Xander Berkeley, Katie Cassidy
Despite a number of rather improbable coincidences this film proves to be an exceedingly elegant story of the intensity of a father’s love for his daughter.
Brian Mills (Neeson) is an ex-CIA operative who has recently retired to spend more time with his daughter Kim (Grace). He is somewhat estranged from Kim because he hasn’t always been around due to his career and she has found parental guidance in her step-father Brian (Berkeley) who she lives with along with her mother Lanore (Janssen.
One of the central moments in this film involves Kim’s abduction at the hands of Albanians who ultimately plan on selling her to a Sheik. The camera and music create a tense situation that is fraught with danger. It is held together by Neeson’s steady, calm response to the terror that is afflicting his character’s daughter on the other end of the phone. She is in Paris with her friend Amanda (Cassidy) and the pair plan on following U2 across Europe. They meet a young man named Peter (Giraud) who shares a cab with them to Amanda’s cousin’s residence where they are to stay for the duration of their visit. Peter calls someone and quickly thereafter the girls are dragged away.
This is a story in which it is absurdly easy to get behind the central character. Neeson never lets us to forget the severity of his mission as he summons up his immense skills to track down the men responsible for capturing his daughter. Mills is relentless in his pursuit and of the mind set that it’s much better to shoot first than to wait around and see who’s holding. He is the ultimate action hero because he is fighting for something that is so personally precious to him and he is not about to suffer the guilt that would inevitably collapse his world should he fail. Indeed, failure is not an option here and so he goes about working his way up the ladder until he inevitably reaches the final pillar and must face to face with the devil himself or at least one of his representatives.
The film’s look is intoxicating throughout. The cinematography by Michel Abramowicz is clean, crisp and economical. It is tinged with an impossible sheen that is remarkably restrained. It creates a sense of glamour but nevertheless does not effectively glamorize the killings be committed at every turn.
Much of the power in this film originates through Mills’s grim, incessant determination to save his daughter from a life of sure ruin. It’s vigilante justice taken to a menacing, purposeful extreme. One is constantly reminded of the nefarious nature of the world that Mills is entering and his almost puritanical zeal for the safe return of his loved one. His tremendous capabilities for torture and combat plus his fearless mien are routinely demonstrated in swift, controlled movements that provide him with the proper inroads into solving the pressing dilemma before him.
This film introduces its central characters with a decisive lack of urgency. We meet them and immediately identify with whatever course of action they are to take. It’s a very simple approach that so many films fail to undertake. In this film it matters because the interpersonal relationships here are vital to understanding Mills’s motivation and his sense of futility in his relationship with Kim. In a few short minutes we know the dynamics and we know what is at stake for Mills. He is presented as a loving father who is trying to make up for lost time yet faces the reality of another man, a rich and genuine man, in his daughter’s life. It is clear that he has failed Kim in some sense and that this fact upsets him intensely.
There are moments in this film that seem to be improbable in their execution. Mills goes to the apartment Kim and Amanda were to stay in and removes a photo card from her camera. He investigates the images and finds one of a man he immediately suspects as being the spotter who set up the initial transaction. From that single photo he is able to track the man down and interrogate him only to lose him in the end. It is difficult to believe that he was able to accomplish all of this with nothing but a blurred photo to go on. One wonders how he knew where to go in such a massive city to find the man responsible for setting the chain in motion that inevitably leads to the Sheik.
The use in this film of the international selling of Western girls to Albanians most likely has ramifications in Albanian communities world wide. It’s an utterly corrupt depiction that presents the Albanians as wholly devious and monstrous. There is nothing whatsoever about them that is remotely likable; they come off as cruel and menacing businessmen who capitalize on the existence of a steady flow of easy prey into the cities. This is a film that expresses a very real and terrible fear that such events may occur at any given time. It presents naive and industrious girls who unwittingly stumble into traps that are set under the most innocent pretexts. They fall for the charm of a spotter who quietly ingratiates himself into their lives by playing on their trust. This film focuses on the simplicity of such an arrangement and demonstrates just how easy it is to mark certain females and wrestle them into a life devoid of hope, where they are made perpetually high, and forced to engage in activities with much older men who treat them like chattle.
The performances in this film are all dynamic and natural. Liam Neeson captivates from start to finish with a character who is fraught with complications but who is able to act in a decisive manner when the situation calls for it. He’s confident in his abilities but not so confident when it comes to the relationship he has with his daughter. It is here that Neeson demonstrates a tremendous range of emotion. During his mission he is driven and focused and tends to show little emotion. With Kim, his disposition is entirely different. He’s open, expressive, and clearly driven by a great love he knows he has almost let slip away. Maggie Grace is extraordinary in this film. She captures her character’s desire to expand and connect with a world much larger than what she has thus far experienced. One gets an immediate sense of her excitement as she makes her plans for heading to Paris. Also, she demonstrates on at least two occasions the fact that she really is barely seventeen and in many ways still a little girl who runs in to her father’s arms and clings madly to him. Famke Janssen’s character is captivating and aggressively disdainful of her ex-husband throughout much of the film. Lenore doesn’t give Mills any space in this film and holds him responsible for his lack of involvement in Kim’s life.
Overall, this is a scintillating film that creates a world of despair and destruction that its central character must fight, using his arsenal of skills, to combat. It’s the classic story of one man fighting for a just cause who must use any means necessary to achieve his aim. There is a sense of freshness in how this film approaches its subject and it never feels strained or superficial. The tension is on from the moment Kim and Amanda are abducted and it never abates straight through to the end. These ultimately are characters worth caring about and this has everything to do with the performances. They are astute at conveying the myriad complexities that haunt each of their lives and the end result is a film that is an exploration of a blistering reality that effects many young women worldwide every year.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Film Review--The Pink Panther (2006)
The Pink Panther (2006)
directed by Shawn Levy
written by Len Blum and Steve Martin
starring Steve Martin, Emily Mortimer, Jean Reno, Kevin Kline, Jason Statham, Henry Czerny, Kristin Chenoweth, Roger Rees, Beyoncé Knowles
This reboot of the famous franchise maintains much of the celebrated fervor of the original films. It is a harder, meaner extrapolation of the Edwards-Sellers-Mancini years and often feels like a tribute to those films while maintaining its own vision.
It’s impossible to compare Peter Sellers and Steve Martin with any clarity. Each brings his own take on the character of Inspector Jacques Clouseau and their styles are distinct enough to warrant an appreciation for their approaches. In this film, Clouseau is even more tiresome than Seller’s version. He’s irritating in a way that is relentless as his ego is so profoundly out of touch with his sleuthing methods. Still, there is a raving intelligence to Martin’s Clouseau that is played out in a variety of scenes. He sees things but his interpretations are always incredibly off base.
The film is fairly sexy with the glamourous addition of Beyoncé Knowles who most certainly knows how to make an entrance and fill out a shimmery dress. Still, her sexiness is matched by the more understated appeal of Emily Mortimer. She’s less glam and more buttoned up but there’s a tigress within her that one wants desperately to burst from her bosom. There are hints of her desire for Clouseau which is one of the great unfinished aspects of the film. The hunger in her eyes when they almost kiss is delectable.
Jason Statham plays soccer coach Yves Gluant who is murdered by a poisoned dart while the Pink Panther diamond ring he is wearing is stolen. This kicks off the action proper as Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Kline) decides to bring in the most inept police officer so he can swoop in and take all the glory for solving the crime. Despite himself Clouseau is perpetually putting himself in the right place at the right time. Specifically, he goes to a casino owned by Gluant’s business partner Raymond Larocque (Rees) to question the entrepreneur regarding Gluant’s death. He meets a highly secretive British Secret Service agent named Nigel Boswell (Clive Owen) who heroically slides down a rope ala James Bond and defeats the Gas Mask bandits who are staging a robbery while wearing Clouseau’s coat. Clouseau is credited with the takedown and is nominated for the Medal of Honor which Dreyfus is desperately seeking having lost six times previously.
In the usual fashion Clouseau botches every attempt to get closer to the killer while somehow remaining subconsciously aware of the correct path to take. Martin is more aggressively annoying that the other Clouseaus. His confidence rivals anything else in Paris as he steadfastly refuses to accept that he’s anything short of a master detective. Of course events play out that support this assessment of his abilities and it’s actually an exceedingly deft piece of investigation that leads him to the killer. Again, Clouseau spends the entire film utterly clueless but just when the odds are the most against him he comes through to save the day.
Jean Reno has the difficult task of keeping tabs on the maniacal Clouseau. He’s very funny in this as mostly a straight man who plays off of Clouseau’s absurdist antics. He manages to dull the terribly sharp edges that define Martin’s Clouseau and often garners bigger laughs.
There are elements in this film that update it to the modern age. There are cell phones, personal computers and a slick, modern feel to the scenes in New York and Paris. There is actually quite a bit of glamour on display in this film that almost feels decadent at times. There is more frank brutality specifically in the scene where suspect Bizu (William Abadie) is murdered by the same person who killed Gluant. He’s shot in the head and its filmed in such a way that it comes off as a shock.
Steve Martin is more physically aggressive in his stunts than Sellers. He possesses a reposit of energy that Sellers never accessed it. It can be argued that he didn’t need to because his ease of movement was more pronounced. He was clumsy but in an exceedingly deft way. Sellers was doing a bit more than falling down. He was dancing a particularly perverse dance with no partners. Martine’s accidents and disruptions seem a bit more forced and less graceful than the best Sellers gags. He also comes across as more immediately threatening. This is a Clouseau who could actually kill a great number of people and it’s a testament to the film’s effectiveness that they are able to walk the fine line between lunacy and outright disaster.
Kevin Kline fills the shoes of the great Herbert Lom with dexterity and tremendous charm. Kline’s Dreyfus is a bit more fastidious than Lom’s and more anal. He takes umbrage with Clouseau mainly because he is threatened by the distinct possibility that he has gravely underestimated the man. He lives in constant fear that Clouseau will actually be able to crack the case before he gets a chance to push him aside and take all the glory for himself. It’s the driving force that propels him forward and his obsession with Clouseau doesn’t move beyond this aspect. It’s not a full-on colossal loathing that Lom’s Dreyfus felt for Clouseau. It’s personal but it’s far more practical. One doesn’t suspect that this version of Dreyfus could ever be driven absolutely mad by a man such as Clouseau.
The performances in this film are uniformly excellent. Emily Mortimer has a swanlike manner that is also very much like Audrey Hepburn in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. She’s got the same neck and her mannerisms are similar. She’s a bit more prudish than Ms. Hepburn, though, which nevertheless is part of her appeal. Steve Martin does everything one could ask in his performance. He’s clearly a capable physical comedian and his work here is entirely his own. He wisely sees fit not to attempt to borrow too much from his famed predecessor. Kevin Kline is remarkably grounded in this film. He plays Dreyfus with a singular sense of calm. Dreyfus in this film is not a man you would expect to see make any sudden movements unless he is attacked or otherwise compromised which he is routinely in this film.
Overall, this film satisfies the yen for another Panther film even if it doesn’t quite live up to the best of the earlier films. Still, the gags are routinely amusing and the performances are all top notch. It’s clearly created with the previous films in mind but doesn’t try to make a direct copy of anything that has come before. It is its own animal from start to finish and this is most pronounced by Steve Martin’s take on the classic character of Inspector Jacques Clouseau. He makes the character work within a more modern milieu which is the only way he could have possibly taken it.
directed by Shawn Levy
written by Len Blum and Steve Martin
starring Steve Martin, Emily Mortimer, Jean Reno, Kevin Kline, Jason Statham, Henry Czerny, Kristin Chenoweth, Roger Rees, Beyoncé Knowles
This reboot of the famous franchise maintains much of the celebrated fervor of the original films. It is a harder, meaner extrapolation of the Edwards-Sellers-Mancini years and often feels like a tribute to those films while maintaining its own vision.
It’s impossible to compare Peter Sellers and Steve Martin with any clarity. Each brings his own take on the character of Inspector Jacques Clouseau and their styles are distinct enough to warrant an appreciation for their approaches. In this film, Clouseau is even more tiresome than Seller’s version. He’s irritating in a way that is relentless as his ego is so profoundly out of touch with his sleuthing methods. Still, there is a raving intelligence to Martin’s Clouseau that is played out in a variety of scenes. He sees things but his interpretations are always incredibly off base.
The film is fairly sexy with the glamourous addition of Beyoncé Knowles who most certainly knows how to make an entrance and fill out a shimmery dress. Still, her sexiness is matched by the more understated appeal of Emily Mortimer. She’s less glam and more buttoned up but there’s a tigress within her that one wants desperately to burst from her bosom. There are hints of her desire for Clouseau which is one of the great unfinished aspects of the film. The hunger in her eyes when they almost kiss is delectable.
Jason Statham plays soccer coach Yves Gluant who is murdered by a poisoned dart while the Pink Panther diamond ring he is wearing is stolen. This kicks off the action proper as Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Kline) decides to bring in the most inept police officer so he can swoop in and take all the glory for solving the crime. Despite himself Clouseau is perpetually putting himself in the right place at the right time. Specifically, he goes to a casino owned by Gluant’s business partner Raymond Larocque (Rees) to question the entrepreneur regarding Gluant’s death. He meets a highly secretive British Secret Service agent named Nigel Boswell (Clive Owen) who heroically slides down a rope ala James Bond and defeats the Gas Mask bandits who are staging a robbery while wearing Clouseau’s coat. Clouseau is credited with the takedown and is nominated for the Medal of Honor which Dreyfus is desperately seeking having lost six times previously.
In the usual fashion Clouseau botches every attempt to get closer to the killer while somehow remaining subconsciously aware of the correct path to take. Martin is more aggressively annoying that the other Clouseaus. His confidence rivals anything else in Paris as he steadfastly refuses to accept that he’s anything short of a master detective. Of course events play out that support this assessment of his abilities and it’s actually an exceedingly deft piece of investigation that leads him to the killer. Again, Clouseau spends the entire film utterly clueless but just when the odds are the most against him he comes through to save the day.
Jean Reno has the difficult task of keeping tabs on the maniacal Clouseau. He’s very funny in this as mostly a straight man who plays off of Clouseau’s absurdist antics. He manages to dull the terribly sharp edges that define Martin’s Clouseau and often garners bigger laughs.
There are elements in this film that update it to the modern age. There are cell phones, personal computers and a slick, modern feel to the scenes in New York and Paris. There is actually quite a bit of glamour on display in this film that almost feels decadent at times. There is more frank brutality specifically in the scene where suspect Bizu (William Abadie) is murdered by the same person who killed Gluant. He’s shot in the head and its filmed in such a way that it comes off as a shock.
Steve Martin is more physically aggressive in his stunts than Sellers. He possesses a reposit of energy that Sellers never accessed it. It can be argued that he didn’t need to because his ease of movement was more pronounced. He was clumsy but in an exceedingly deft way. Sellers was doing a bit more than falling down. He was dancing a particularly perverse dance with no partners. Martine’s accidents and disruptions seem a bit more forced and less graceful than the best Sellers gags. He also comes across as more immediately threatening. This is a Clouseau who could actually kill a great number of people and it’s a testament to the film’s effectiveness that they are able to walk the fine line between lunacy and outright disaster.
Kevin Kline fills the shoes of the great Herbert Lom with dexterity and tremendous charm. Kline’s Dreyfus is a bit more fastidious than Lom’s and more anal. He takes umbrage with Clouseau mainly because he is threatened by the distinct possibility that he has gravely underestimated the man. He lives in constant fear that Clouseau will actually be able to crack the case before he gets a chance to push him aside and take all the glory for himself. It’s the driving force that propels him forward and his obsession with Clouseau doesn’t move beyond this aspect. It’s not a full-on colossal loathing that Lom’s Dreyfus felt for Clouseau. It’s personal but it’s far more practical. One doesn’t suspect that this version of Dreyfus could ever be driven absolutely mad by a man such as Clouseau.
The performances in this film are uniformly excellent. Emily Mortimer has a swanlike manner that is also very much like Audrey Hepburn in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. She’s got the same neck and her mannerisms are similar. She’s a bit more prudish than Ms. Hepburn, though, which nevertheless is part of her appeal. Steve Martin does everything one could ask in his performance. He’s clearly a capable physical comedian and his work here is entirely his own. He wisely sees fit not to attempt to borrow too much from his famed predecessor. Kevin Kline is remarkably grounded in this film. He plays Dreyfus with a singular sense of calm. Dreyfus in this film is not a man you would expect to see make any sudden movements unless he is attacked or otherwise compromised which he is routinely in this film.
Overall, this film satisfies the yen for another Panther film even if it doesn’t quite live up to the best of the earlier films. Still, the gags are routinely amusing and the performances are all top notch. It’s clearly created with the previous films in mind but doesn’t try to make a direct copy of anything that has come before. It is its own animal from start to finish and this is most pronounced by Steve Martin’s take on the classic character of Inspector Jacques Clouseau. He makes the character work within a more modern milieu which is the only way he could have possibly taken it.
Film Review--Curse of the Pink Panther
Curse of the Pink Panther
directed by Blake Edwards
written by Blake Edwards, Geoffrey Edwards
starring David Niven, Capucine, Robert Wagner, Herbert Lom, Joanna Lumley, Robert Loggia, Harvey Korman, Burt Kwouk, Ted Wass
As the film opens, the theft of the diamond from the previous film is repeated. A mysterious man tries to sell it to Countess Chandra (Lumley) but she shoots him dead just after Clouseau appears as if he is about to foil the transaction. Chandra points the gun at Clouseau and the opening credits begin.
Clouseau is still missing and the Sûreté are looking for the world’s greatest detective to track him down. Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Lom) is less than enthusiastic over the search and devises a plan to ensure that the exact opposite of what is programmed into the computer is tabulated in locating the best man (or woman) for the job. Subsequently, another bumbling, clumsy idiot in the guise of Sergeant Clifton Sleigh (Wass) is found and put on the case.
Sergeant Sleigh in this film is entirely ineffectual as a physical presence in this film. The character, an obvious pacifier for those who deeply lament the loss of Peter Sellers and who nevertheless will settle for a substitute, lacks Sellers’s solidity and strong sense of place. Despite his buffoonish behavior Seller’s Clouseau was grounded albeit it directionless at times and anathema to any objects put in his path. Sleigh is as much of a stumblebum as the man he is attempting to find. Clearly, the film wants us to satisfy ourselves with Nutrasweet while the real stuff is tragically out of reach. Wass’s dialog is often wooden and combined with his presentation the result is a character who isn’t particularly easy to like or root for.
The mob, led by the affable and utterly winning Bruno Langois (Loggia) naturally do not want Clouseau found so they put out a number of hits on Sleigh which manage to fail in the same manner they did with Clouseau.
Sleigh meets with the luxuriating Sir Charles Lytton (Niven) and his gallant wife Lady Simone (Capucine) who remain surprised that Clouseau hasn’t turned up yet. They discuss the diamond and the disappearance of Clouseau. This scene features one of several blatant sexual references in the film. Somehow Sleigh manages to get a rubber raft in the shape of a duck attached to his bottom so that when he sits down the ducks head peaks out between his legs so it looks like wood. They play with this gag for quite a long time as every time he moves or falls down the same head keeps bobbing away.
Also, there is a scene where Sleigh has just left Professor Auguste Balls’s disguise shop with an inflatable companion that Balls has sold him for a diversion. The scene changes and Sleigh sits outside a French café with his new toy. He lights her a cigarette and the ashes burn a hole in the doll. So, Sleigh puts his head very suggestively between the doll’s legs in order to attempt to blow her up or whatever you want to call it.
Sleigh is certainly a bumbling, stumbling mess but he moves and speaks like a character from “The Forbidden Zone”. It’s amazing if you compare the film and this cop. It’s as if he stepped straight off of that set onto this one and remained the same character for both films. After a while it becomes easier to like Sleigh because one begins to feel horribly for him; one develops a feeling of pity for him. He is lowly and unfortunate throughout although he does manage to get a girl interested in him. She is named Juleta Shane as well as Julie Morgan (Leslie Ash) and she meets Sleigh at a club where she is clearly interested. They had actually seen each other at the hotel they are staying at and later when she appears in his room she is ready to go. She’s one of the more ribald and blatantly sexual female characters in this series and she is basically grinding for it.
There is a tremendous openness at Countess Chandra (Lumley)’s health spa which includes hot mud baths and other various extravagances. It’s an exceedingly clean and vital place and every time the film goes back to it, it is infused with an intense energy that comes directly from the various stations at the spa.
The clumsy antics of Sleigh are over the top to put it mildly. It’s possible that he’s even more vertically challenged than Clouseau is in the first several films. Regardless, he’s a serious wreck and cannot step two feet without stumbling over himself and putting others at serious risk. There are really none of his falls that are particularly amusing. They have the physical characteristics of Sellers’s work but none of the style or grace. They are ugly and perhaps less choreographed but in the end they come across as second rate when compared to the master. But, one can hardly blame young Wass for this. He does what he can in his role which is an attempt to capture the essence of Sellers in the body of another character. It certainly is a smarter move than taking another stab at a Clouseau replacement which lowered the impact of “Inspector Clouseau” with Alan Arkin.
The end of the film is certainly curious and it involves Roger Moore tripping over everything in sight, speaking in an exaggerated French accent, and spending most of his scenes with an ice bucket on his head. It’s clear from the beginning who this really is and it’s a whole lot of fun because Moore isn’t exactly known for slapstick and this display shows him in fine form. These scenes tie the film together and make sense of it. In a way it’s too much, too soon as prior to that the film seems to meander a ways before finally getting to the point. Still, the ending is very appealing in its way and ultimately satisfactory. Indeed, it’s the perfect ending for this part of the series. It would be ten years before another one, “Son of the Pink Panther”, was attempted and that film really has little to do with the tremendous 20 year ride between the original Panther and “Curse”.
This film combines extended gags with short riffs where Sleigh trips over his feet and destroys a piece of furniture or a display. In its way it is successful at what it is attempting to do. It creates a character who is similar enough to Clouseau to not be a shock to long term fans of the series while molding a passably entertaining story around it. It works quite well and the film maintains its directive throughout without succumbing to self-parody.
The performances in this film are all impressive. I’ve decided that Ted Wass is brilliantly playing a wooden character with no rhythm and that he is supposed to be that way. Wass has a certain affability that he exploits routinely. He’s got natural comic timing which comes in to play throughout the film. Joanna Lumley also possess a fantastic comedic touch. She and Roger Moore have excellent chemistry here and it works to the film’s advantage. Herbert Lom is, as usual, very discomforted as Dreyfus and phenomenally agitated at the prospect of Clouseau being alive. It’s a testament to the series that it manages to make Dreyfus’s neuroses regarding Clouseau fresh and novel every time they attack it. Dreyfus is really the central character in these films and Clouseau is merely the comic relief.
Overall, this film captures the spirit of the earlier films without quite managing to create their elegance or style. Tedd Wass of course isn’t as dynamic and thrilling as Sellers but that isn’t what the film is going for here. Wass is an entirely different animal even though he shares the same afflictions as Sellers in terms of his lack of balance and inability to avoid falling down. He is a repressed, buttoned-up nerd with no clue about the world, and especially women. Next to him Clouseau is Casanova. Seller’s Clouseau, despite his tendency to destroy inanimate objects, is a man of the world. He’s sophisticated in a way that Wass’s is not. The film wonderfully gives us a character who doesn’t try to be a mock-up of Clouseau and instead carries on with his own personality quirks that come in the end to define the character.
directed by Blake Edwards
written by Blake Edwards, Geoffrey Edwards
starring David Niven, Capucine, Robert Wagner, Herbert Lom, Joanna Lumley, Robert Loggia, Harvey Korman, Burt Kwouk, Ted Wass
As the film opens, the theft of the diamond from the previous film is repeated. A mysterious man tries to sell it to Countess Chandra (Lumley) but she shoots him dead just after Clouseau appears as if he is about to foil the transaction. Chandra points the gun at Clouseau and the opening credits begin.
Clouseau is still missing and the Sûreté are looking for the world’s greatest detective to track him down. Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Lom) is less than enthusiastic over the search and devises a plan to ensure that the exact opposite of what is programmed into the computer is tabulated in locating the best man (or woman) for the job. Subsequently, another bumbling, clumsy idiot in the guise of Sergeant Clifton Sleigh (Wass) is found and put on the case.
Sergeant Sleigh in this film is entirely ineffectual as a physical presence in this film. The character, an obvious pacifier for those who deeply lament the loss of Peter Sellers and who nevertheless will settle for a substitute, lacks Sellers’s solidity and strong sense of place. Despite his buffoonish behavior Seller’s Clouseau was grounded albeit it directionless at times and anathema to any objects put in his path. Sleigh is as much of a stumblebum as the man he is attempting to find. Clearly, the film wants us to satisfy ourselves with Nutrasweet while the real stuff is tragically out of reach. Wass’s dialog is often wooden and combined with his presentation the result is a character who isn’t particularly easy to like or root for.
The mob, led by the affable and utterly winning Bruno Langois (Loggia) naturally do not want Clouseau found so they put out a number of hits on Sleigh which manage to fail in the same manner they did with Clouseau.
Sleigh meets with the luxuriating Sir Charles Lytton (Niven) and his gallant wife Lady Simone (Capucine) who remain surprised that Clouseau hasn’t turned up yet. They discuss the diamond and the disappearance of Clouseau. This scene features one of several blatant sexual references in the film. Somehow Sleigh manages to get a rubber raft in the shape of a duck attached to his bottom so that when he sits down the ducks head peaks out between his legs so it looks like wood. They play with this gag for quite a long time as every time he moves or falls down the same head keeps bobbing away.
Also, there is a scene where Sleigh has just left Professor Auguste Balls’s disguise shop with an inflatable companion that Balls has sold him for a diversion. The scene changes and Sleigh sits outside a French café with his new toy. He lights her a cigarette and the ashes burn a hole in the doll. So, Sleigh puts his head very suggestively between the doll’s legs in order to attempt to blow her up or whatever you want to call it.
Sleigh is certainly a bumbling, stumbling mess but he moves and speaks like a character from “The Forbidden Zone”. It’s amazing if you compare the film and this cop. It’s as if he stepped straight off of that set onto this one and remained the same character for both films. After a while it becomes easier to like Sleigh because one begins to feel horribly for him; one develops a feeling of pity for him. He is lowly and unfortunate throughout although he does manage to get a girl interested in him. She is named Juleta Shane as well as Julie Morgan (Leslie Ash) and she meets Sleigh at a club where she is clearly interested. They had actually seen each other at the hotel they are staying at and later when she appears in his room she is ready to go. She’s one of the more ribald and blatantly sexual female characters in this series and she is basically grinding for it.
There is a tremendous openness at Countess Chandra (Lumley)’s health spa which includes hot mud baths and other various extravagances. It’s an exceedingly clean and vital place and every time the film goes back to it, it is infused with an intense energy that comes directly from the various stations at the spa.
The clumsy antics of Sleigh are over the top to put it mildly. It’s possible that he’s even more vertically challenged than Clouseau is in the first several films. Regardless, he’s a serious wreck and cannot step two feet without stumbling over himself and putting others at serious risk. There are really none of his falls that are particularly amusing. They have the physical characteristics of Sellers’s work but none of the style or grace. They are ugly and perhaps less choreographed but in the end they come across as second rate when compared to the master. But, one can hardly blame young Wass for this. He does what he can in his role which is an attempt to capture the essence of Sellers in the body of another character. It certainly is a smarter move than taking another stab at a Clouseau replacement which lowered the impact of “Inspector Clouseau” with Alan Arkin.
The end of the film is certainly curious and it involves Roger Moore tripping over everything in sight, speaking in an exaggerated French accent, and spending most of his scenes with an ice bucket on his head. It’s clear from the beginning who this really is and it’s a whole lot of fun because Moore isn’t exactly known for slapstick and this display shows him in fine form. These scenes tie the film together and make sense of it. In a way it’s too much, too soon as prior to that the film seems to meander a ways before finally getting to the point. Still, the ending is very appealing in its way and ultimately satisfactory. Indeed, it’s the perfect ending for this part of the series. It would be ten years before another one, “Son of the Pink Panther”, was attempted and that film really has little to do with the tremendous 20 year ride between the original Panther and “Curse”.
This film combines extended gags with short riffs where Sleigh trips over his feet and destroys a piece of furniture or a display. In its way it is successful at what it is attempting to do. It creates a character who is similar enough to Clouseau to not be a shock to long term fans of the series while molding a passably entertaining story around it. It works quite well and the film maintains its directive throughout without succumbing to self-parody.
The performances in this film are all impressive. I’ve decided that Ted Wass is brilliantly playing a wooden character with no rhythm and that he is supposed to be that way. Wass has a certain affability that he exploits routinely. He’s got natural comic timing which comes in to play throughout the film. Joanna Lumley also possess a fantastic comedic touch. She and Roger Moore have excellent chemistry here and it works to the film’s advantage. Herbert Lom is, as usual, very discomforted as Dreyfus and phenomenally agitated at the prospect of Clouseau being alive. It’s a testament to the series that it manages to make Dreyfus’s neuroses regarding Clouseau fresh and novel every time they attack it. Dreyfus is really the central character in these films and Clouseau is merely the comic relief.
Overall, this film captures the spirit of the earlier films without quite managing to create their elegance or style. Tedd Wass of course isn’t as dynamic and thrilling as Sellers but that isn’t what the film is going for here. Wass is an entirely different animal even though he shares the same afflictions as Sellers in terms of his lack of balance and inability to avoid falling down. He is a repressed, buttoned-up nerd with no clue about the world, and especially women. Next to him Clouseau is Casanova. Seller’s Clouseau, despite his tendency to destroy inanimate objects, is a man of the world. He’s sophisticated in a way that Wass’s is not. The film wonderfully gives us a character who doesn’t try to be a mock-up of Clouseau and instead carries on with his own personality quirks that come in the end to define the character.
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