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The Last Station

Posted by will on January 26, 2011

Leo, or Lyev, Tolstoy, literary giant, leader amongst mere mortals, is probably best known for his works of realist fiction, War and Peace and Anna Karenina, neither of which I am familiar with nor, obviously, have taken the time to read. The faintest thing I know about Tolstoy’s masterpieces are that War and Peace is often symbolized as something rather long and monotonous and that they made a movie of Anna Karenina sometime in the late 90’s.

About Mr. Tolstoy I know little aside that he was a Russian pacifist and Christian anarchist. Apparently, his words would later have profound impacts on both Gandhi and MLK.

So, I came into the movie with an open mind, knowing that most cinematic portrayals are normally less than accurate, to see what The Last Station had to offer.

The film actually is centered around Valentin Bulgakov, a newly appointed private secretary to Tolstoy. There are a lot of small nuanced points and subplots to the actual primary tale but the story primarily follows the tug-of-war between Count Tolstoy’s wife, Sofya Tolstaya, and Tolstoy’s most devoted disciple and leader of the Tolstoyan movement, Vladimir Chertkov, over the signing of a new will. Bulgakov is caught in the middle and, is often times, left to mediate between the two sides. The most intriguing parts of this battle is the friction caused by Tolstoy’s idealistic principles (and thus, his resulting following) as opposed to Countess Sofya’s traditional and aristocratic views.

While there was much drama to be had over the course of the movie, I fail to find the purpose to make a movie about it (aside from the obvious “Let’s make a Tolstoy biopic” excuse). In the end, all of the sweat and tears shed over the new will seems pretty trivial. While this is certainly a key moment in Tolstoy and the Countess’ life, it is no more grandiose than your common everyday family drama and conflict you can find anywhere in the world. While there are certainly movies that carry the same themes, this vehicle seemed pretty petty and unimportant. Perhaps because I have no basic appreciation for Tolstoy do I find his final days pretty much “Whatever, dude”.

Another point of contention was the pace. I have noticed many of the movies I’ve reviewed recently I have complained about how much the movie dragged. I think there is something to be said about appropriate character development, movements within the story, and the fact I have been watching, almost exclusively, television series where a plot lasts normally in the 20 minute range. That all being said, there was a lot of overkill in the primary plots but little development in the subplots that ran throughout. Unfortunately, I would have liked to have seen less time spent on the meat and little bit more finesse to the secondary stories. Because of this, I felt like there was incomplete character development, especially in Bulgakov.

The strongest parts of the movies were the performances by the leads. James McAvoy turns in a solid performance as Valentin-in-the-Middle to the rock and sock’em Russians (Helen Mirren’s Countess Sofya and Paul Giamatti’s Chertkov). Christopher Plummer (Captain Von Trapp in the Sound of Music) is your Tolstoy, the apparent contemporary to writers with long white beards (I’m looking at you Walt Whitman). While the acting was solid and plausible to the characters it still felt like treading water to reach a conclusion I ended up not caring about.

The Verdict:

Comments on this post | Published in Biopic

The Man in the Iron Mask

Posted by will on January 7, 2011

This is the movie loosely based on the 1939 same-titled film, also loosely based on a tale from Alexandre Dumas’ d’Artagnan Romances which, this story in particular, is loosely based on the real L’Homme au Masque de Fer, a prisoner arrested as Eustache Dauger in 1669. Yet, you probably remember it as that box-office success with future-star Leonardo DiCaprio who was coming off absurd amounts of outrageous triumph from his role in Titanic from the previous year. The mid-90’s prepubescent 14-year old girl in you probably remembers this as the movie with not one but two Leos (!!!).

What you might not remember is that The Man in the Iron Mask is a predictable, plodding film that has a few recognizable faces (Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich, Peter Sarsgaard, and Hugh Laurie to name a few) but nothing much to offer other than a little splash of action and adventure, awkward cuts of romance, a reunion of the O.G. Musketeers, and did I mention … two Leos?

After forgiving the campy dialogue, ridiculous slapstick elements, and slow forming story, the thing that was most cringe-worthy, I found, was the stiff and unforgiving acting. And, to top off your cocktail of misery, it seemed the poisonous effect was contagious throughout the cast. To think, the person who put the most life in his character was Gérard Depardieu (the only actual Frenchmen out of the four Musketeer actors), the oafish, drunken, STI-riddled boor. While the other three played up their hackneyed roles (the converted Jesuit priest who can still kick some ass in the name of the Lord, the mourning patriarch who was wronged by the king, and the distinguished military hero who is now under employ of the Man), they do so with such uncertainty and stiffness I couldn’t decide if particular parts of the movie were either painful or laughable (painfully laughable / laughably painful?).

And back to Leo. Both of them. Re-watching this film after a number of years, and seeing a good portion of Mr. DiCaprio’s body of work, this certainly was not his best effort. I mean, who could blame him? He was playing not only dual roles, but dueling roles as well. There is one thing I have noticed, from a personal standpoint, and this movie only helped to reinforce it. Leo has this particular and distinct vocal tone and inflection that he seems to always employ, whether he’s playing a con artist, historical megalomaniac, Rhodesian mercenary, or literary figure of tragedy … he always sounds the same, regardless of flavor of accent. While, my judgement is that he is a very, very talented actor, I always have a hard time blurring the line between him and whomever he is playing (because of his voice particularities). You might as well replace the “DiCaprio is …” perceptions with the “DiCaprio as …” realities in my judgement.

Off the tangent and back to the film. For what it’s worth, which is not too much, The Man … is certainly, in some small measure, entertaining (mindlessly, almost) but a very dated work that doesn’t hold a lot of potential as something you want to re-watch. But then again … it is two Leos.

The Verdict:

Comments on this post | Published in Action, Adventure & Epic, Comedy, Romance

Exit Through the Gift Shop

Posted by will on December 23, 2010

Directed by renowned street artist Banksy, Exit Through the Gift Shop is one part documentary, one part farce, and two parts that comprise an intimate glimpse into the worlds of a handful of the most well-known street and graffiti artists.

The fact that Banksy is the director should already hint that the whole premise of the story is concocted, falsified, and simply a ruse. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have to be entertaining as well as critical.

The plot of the story chronicles a particular time in the life of French expatriate Thierry Guetta; father, eccentric thrift store owner, obsessive personal historian outfitted with his trusty video camera. After a visit abroad to see his cousin, the mosaic street virtuoso Invader (a personal favorite of mine), Thierry becomes moved and consumed with street art. The film plods along as Thierry gains more and more access to the somewhat secretive process, onsite bombings, and culture of some of the most prominent street artists including the likes of Shepard Fairey, Borf, Swoon, Dotmasters, and eventually, the reclusive and secretive Banksy. All the while, Thierry is mining some pretty remarkable and unique footage.

You would imagine that the nature of this film would invoke some type of badass, street urchin, holier-than-though punkish character and would be, to some extent, inaccessible to the most viewers. Street art is not very glamorous, for the most part, and is a very controversial subject in regards to its process, its locations, and really, its legality.

Yet, Exit Through the Gift Shop is almost whimsical. It’s light-hearted, it’s funny, it’s ironic, and it is a very engaging and interesting film. Thierry is such an blasé free spirit that he is almost slap-your-knee comical to watch at times. He is his own Don Quixote and yes, he is on his own personal quests (armed with his video camera).

Not to be lost in the high spirits of this film is what I perceive, a very pointed and prime statement on art and what it is and what it can be. To me, the film asks the age old question, “What is art?”. To narrow it down, “What is art and does it work in regards to merchandising?” (e.g. Jeff Koons, Shepherd Fairey, Andy Warhol, etc.). Of course, the answer is to the viewer’s interpretation but it does force you to look at artists, in this case in particular, the purveyors of spray paint, stencils, and wheat paste, in a very different light.

The Verdict:

Comments on this post | Published in Mockumentary

Matchstick Men

Posted by will on December 13, 2010

Nic Cage is a weird guy. Not just on the big screen, but in real life as well. So, playing a master con artist who also suffers from agoraphobia, mysophobia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder should be right up his alley.

Cage is Roy Waller, a con artist with a personally groomed and taught partner (Sam Rockwell) who are pulling off small-time cons to the tune of a small fortune. The fantasy world they sell to their unsuspecting victims is a lot more stable than Roy’s personal life. When Roy’s small “episodes” and an extremely unnerving panic attack start to infringe on the business, Frank (Rockwell) suggests that he seek psychiatric help.

Waller seeks a quick-fix from psychiatrist Dr. Klein but ends up with a 14 year old daughter, Angela (Alison Lohman), a product of he and his ex-wife who divorced him a little under 15 years ago. With Angela now in his life, things are getting more complicated for the neurotic Roy and his orderly routine.

While most cons in films focus on large, grandiose capers and rewards, Matchstick Men is a little bit more mundane (it’s hard to make selling overpriced water filtration systems glamourous). Roy, if not for his fragile mental state and exotic profession, could pass for your average, divorced middle-aged suburbanite. That almost makes him very likable as he plays the role of underdog. You want him to succeed, especially as he plays catch-up to being the father he never was to Angela.

The plot of the film is pretty quaint but it is not without its own excitement and appropriate amount of really large twists and turns. Stable situations turn, realities are distorted, even more past Roy’s cerebral faults, and at the end, reality is flipped end upon end. Cage, Rockwell (for what little part he actually plays), and Lohman deserve praise for their performances. As the plot coagulates and the story becomes even more overwrought and unbalanced, the three stars really turn in very believable, very real performances.

This movie, overall, is fun to watch. It’s light-hearted, interesting, and is in the same vein as another movie based on a series of cons, Catch Me If You Can. Yet, in the end, Matchstick Men is less a movie about a con but a movie about a con artist.

The Verdict:

2 Comments on this post | Published in Comedy, Mystery & Thriller

The Brothers Bloom

Posted by will on November 23, 2010

The con artist is one of the most common and classic characters in film. Whether it is Frank Abagnale Jr. in Catch Me if You Can, Professor Harold Hill of The Music Man fame, or Redford and Newman’s Johnny Hooker and Gondorff in The Sting, movies about hoodwinking and bamboozling are big draws. What is so interesting about these type of films? I think, for me, it is the thrill of the hoax. We not only are on the inside of the fraud, but we also get to revel once the wool has been lifted from the victim’s eyes (something that gives us a sense of joy … as long as we are not the ones being cheated).

Naturally, most of the time, the scam artist has the tables turned and we get a moralistic victory. Or, there is a internal struggle to “go straight”. Either way, movies with these snake oil salesmen are normally highly entertaining. I can say The Brothers Bloom is, as well, for the most part.

The Brothers Bloom presents us with Stephen, three years senior, and his brother Bloom – professional con artists since childhood. Stephen creates what he deems “stories”, bizarre and complex scenarios. These tales put Bloom in the forefront to create confidence and trust with their marks.

25 years later, after another successful and elaborate con, Bloom comes to the realization that Stephen has forever, with his cons, controlled the outcome of his life. Essentially, Bloom is going under an identity crisis as well as a problem with reality and what has been constructed for him through Stephen’s cons. With that, Bloom decides he wants out of the game and moves to Montenegro.

Three months go by and Stephen finally hunts down Bloom. The premise – one last hurrah. The con is on Penelope Stamp, a rich but secluded heiress living in New Jersey. As the story plays out, three problems arise: Penelope is much more an eccentric wildcard then the boys thought, Diamond Dog, the brothers mentor-turned-arch-nemesis is back into the picture, and Bloom is finding himself falling in love with Penelope, the one thing he can not do to it compromises the con.

This movie reminded me of a half-as-quirky-not-as-eccentric Wes Anderson film (it is not as pretentious nor is there an epic soundtrack). As quick paced and interesting as the first half of the film is, the second half is a real drag. Rian Johnson wrote a pretty good script, it just should have been condensed.

Ruffalo and Brody are really great and play off each other naturally. Ruffalo is a natural as the smarmy, know-it-all big brother. I have not had a chance to see Ruffalo in a leading role and in Bloom, I liked what I saw.

Overall, the characters are interesting yet somewhat surprisingly, in the end, a bit mundane. Watch it for the performances, hate it for the dragging storyline.

The Verdict:

Comments on this post | Published in Action, Adventure & Epic, Comedy