Category: Reviews

  • ‘Eat, Sleep, Die’ is a fine debut feature

    ‘Eat, Sleep, Die’ is a fine debut feature

    Milan Dragisic (left) and Nermina Lukac in 'Eat, Sleep, Die'
    Milan Dragisic (left) and Nermina Lukac in ‘Eat, Sleep, Die’

    Eat, Sleep, Die is a strong debut feature film for writer/director Gabriela Pichler.

    She draws upon her own life experiences for the story and somehow manages to cast the perfect actress in the lead role. “Rasa” (Lukac) works in a vegetable processing plant in a small town in Sweden. She resides with her father (Dragisic) who is a self-proclaimed invalid incapable of work. At least until he can’t qualify for the Swedish equivalent of disability. Then he leaves Sweden for a place where he can get some work and Rasa is left to fend for herself. Meanwhile Rasa rides her bicycle to and from the plant every day, because she doesn’t know how to drive. Nor does she have a license.

    That’s not a problem, she’s a hard worker, happy with her job and her life and everything is just fine. Until the tension of layoff talk begins. The plant where she works is in trouble. Suddenly her origins are a problem. While she’s lived in Sweden most of her life, she is from Montenegro and foreigners can have trouble finding work in Sweden. Especially in small towns like the one where she lives.

    But she isn’t too worried. She’s not just a hard worker, she outperforms everyone else on the processing line and figures this will save her job. Right up until the moment when the boss comes up to her while she’s working on the line and takes her into the office to give her the bad news. She won’t tell Dad that there is anything wrong, but the moment she stops working, things change.

    Lukac does a wonderful job of showing the audience how much of a person’s identity can become intertwined with their job. Without it, she has little to do but eat, sleep and look for work.

    The realism is stark and gripping. The audience becomes immediately invested in Rasa because she is such a genuine person, one who reminds us of someone we know. She loves life when she has somewhere to be, to do something useful on a regular basis and hates the absence of it. The ultimate test comes in the conclusion where she must make a very difficult decision. That choice illustrates how work just might trump family.

    There are moments when Eat, Sleep, Die drags and it is definitely repetitive in places. But it’s still an excellent first effort and more can be expected to come from Pichler.

  • ‘The Central Park Five’ is a compelling documentary from Ken Burns

    ‘The Central Park Five’ is a compelling documentary from Ken Burns

    'The Central Park Five' examines a rape case that rocked New York City, and in some ways remains unresolved
    ‘The Central Park Five’ examines a rape case that rocked New York City in 1989, and in some ways remains unresolved

    There is no debate about some of the facts regarding what happened in New York’s Central Park on April 19, 1989.  A female jogger was raped and beaten nearly to death.  There was a group of between 20 and 30 or more teens that went on a rampage in the park, committing acts of violence and intimidation.  Five teens, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Kharey Wise and Yusef Salaam were part of that group of teens for at least part of their activities.

    The anger and rage the city felt boiled over in the wake of a young, attractive, successful, white woman being assaulted and nearly killed by black teens. There was intense pressure to find and punish those responsible.  The five were taken into police custody and interrogated relentlessly. Four of the five teens listed above ultimately confessed to being involved in the assault although they all implicated others in the actual rape.  The fifth, Salaam did make some verbal admissions but refused to allow the videotaping of his “confession”, something that took place in the case of the other four.

    They were ultimately convicted and sent to prison.  For a crime that all five denied having committed after they were no longer being pressured and intimidated by police.

    This is where the new documentary film from Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon, The Central Park Five,  begins.  With the events that led up to this rape and assault and how these teens ended up confessing to something they maintain to this day that they did not do.  The filmmakers conduct an examination of what transpired, as well as documenting the course of events in the aftermath of this tragic incident.

    Typically, the names of juvenile offenders are not released to the media until after they are charged or indicted. That was not the case here.  Normally the name of a rape victim is not released, but two black-owned newspapers continued to publish her name in the wake of other media continuing to name the teens accused in the case.  There was a prosecution, convictions for all five and prison time, which four of them served and were released.  The fifth was still in prison when he ran into Mattias Reyes, who would later confess to the crime for which the five were accused, leading ultimately to their exoneration.

    Ken Burns is a master of the documentary form and he is on his game here.  The overwhelming majority of the pertinent facts are brought to light.  He doesn’t ignore that the lead prosecutor continues to this day to maintain she felt the five were guilty.  Although one of the five refused to appear on camera, Burns managed to tell his story as well, with the use of photos and video imagery from the era of the incident and through narration.  Five lives were for the most part ruined, in addition to that of the victim.  The visuals are stark and revealing.  The use of titles is done to great effect.

    The saddest part of the tale is how this has affected the lives of the five and how their search for ultimate justice has been denied.  Several of them filed suit against the City of New York for malicious prosecution, racial discrimination and emotional distress in 2003.

    That lawsuit remains unresolved at this date.

  • ‘Electrick Children’ packs very little charge

    ‘Electrick Children’ packs very little charge

    Julia Garner in 'Electrick Children'
    Julia Garner in ‘Electrick Children’

    Electrick Children is a film that’s opened overseas but is premiering in the U.S. at the AFI’s Film Fest 2012. From first-time director Rebecca Thomas, it is a story about religion, miracles, immaculate conception, rock and roll and teen-angst, all wrapped up into 96 minutes.

    The basic premise is intriguing. “Rachel” (Garner) is a 15-year-old girl living a quiet, somewhat primitive lifestyle with her fundamentalist Mormon family in Utah. Since it’s her 15th birthday, her father “Paul” (Zane), along with older brother “Mister Will” (Aiken), are interviewing her and recording the interview on a cassette recorder. Rachel is obsessed with the recorder and sneaks into the basement to use it. She finds a strange blue tape on it and there is, gasp, music on that tape. The song happens to be “Don’t Leave Me Hanging on the Telephone” by The Nerves. She is enraptured.

    She also finds herself miraculously pregnant. When this news gets out to her parents, immediate plans are made to marry her off to a proper youth of the community. But the story is more complicated. Her mother saw her and Mister Will fighting over the cassette and it looked like Mister Will might have had intercourse with her. He didn’t. However, they don’t know that, so he is to be exiled the next day. As a result, he’s sleeping in the back of their one vehicle when Rachel takes off in it and heads for Las Vegas in search of whoever was singing that song. This all leads to a moderately interesting resolution, but doesn’t make this a great. Or even good one.

    Garner is perfectly cast as the innocent Rachel who doesn’t know the dangers she’s facing in meeting boys older than her in a city like Las Vegas. Seeing that side of Vegas, a side we don’t usually see in films set there is slightly interesting, but when you look at the seedy side of a city, ultimately they are all pretty much the same in appearance and experience. Culkin is adequate as the boy whose troubled relationship with his family has him in the right place to encounter and get involved with Rachel.

    Thomas seems to want to put the audience on edge, to make them feel some discomfort in exploring the issues projected on the screen. There’s a feeling as though you were listening to fingernails being dragged across a chalkboard for much of the first two acts. It doesn’t so much plod, as it explores slowly, carefully what should be a headlong rush of two teens suddenly exposed to the outside world. For some reason she seems to think that the sight of women urinating is an important theme or device, for there are no fewer than four separate sequences where one of the main female characters is sitting down to relieve herself. The one time where Rachel needs the urine for a pregnancy test is understandable. The other shots of this add nothing to the film.

    In the end, the good stuff in the third act can’t make up for what you are forced to endure to get there. All the loose ends are tied up nicely and there’s a clichéd ending for those who like that sort of thing. A good debut. But not a good film.

  • ‘Chasing Mavericks’ is great for surfers, but not everyone

    ‘Chasing Mavericks’ is great for surfers, but not everyone

    Gerard Butler and Jonny Weston hit the waves in 'Chasing Mavericks'
    Gerard Butler and Jonny Weston hit the waves in ‘Chasing Mavericks’

    We’ve had films before with a “Maverick” in them.  One Maverick was an old West quick-draw/card-sharp who the ladies loved.  Another was a Navy fighter pilot with a big chip on his shoulder and a really bad attitude.  Now we have a new Maverick on the big screen, but this time it isn’t a person.  It’s a place in California that has gigantic waves that challenge the best of surfers.  It is known as either Mavericks or Maverick’s, so the title is accurate.

    Chasing Mavericks is the story of one teen’s obsession with riding these waves and how doing so made him famous.  It’s based on the true story of Jay Moriarity, who is portrayed in the film by Jonny Weston.  Jay is the son of a father who has abandoned Jay and his mother, Kristy (Elisabeth Shue) and she has problems of her own.  She can’t hang on to a job, she drinks too much and she isn’t much of a parent to Jay.  Jay lives across the street from “Frosty” (real name Richard Hesson, played by Gerard Butler in the film) who is one of a very small group of men who surf at Mavericks and don’t want others to discover its existence.  Jay finds a way to follow Frosty there one morning and is amazed at what he sees.

    Now Jay is an excellent surfer under normal conditions.  But what one gets at Mavericks is far from normal and he doesn’t have the tools to try it.  So he makes a deal with Frosty to train him for the task.  Along the way he will have issues with his best friend in the film, “Blondie” (Devin Crittenden), run-ins with some local “toughs” and have to deal with how he is treated by Kim (Leven Rambin).  She’s been close with him since they were young kids and she wants to be close friends with him.  But she snubs him when she’s hanging out with the “cool kids”.  Frosty isn’t too high on the idea of training Jay for surfing at Mavericks but his wife Brenda encourages him to take Jay under his wing.  She knows that Jay will surf Mavericks with or without her husband’s tutelage.

    Surfers and fans of surfing will love this movie.  They will love the photography of the waves, the incredible rides that are shown and the display of the surf “culture”.  But those who aren’t surfers or fans of the sport will be disappointed.  The true story of Jay Moriarty is a compelling tale.  But the version we see, probably ‘enhanced’ by dramatic license loses some of that impact.  In reality it was his father who first introduced him to surfing.  The thugs he has to deal with are the worst sort of cliché and are there strictly to illustrate a strong moral compass within the hero.  Wesson is a good looking kid, but bears little resemblance to the real Moriarity.  Calling tropical cyclones near Japan “hurricanes” is the kind of technical error that would be easily avoidable with just a tiny bit of effort (they’re known as typhoons).

    Butler broods on cue, suffers silently when appropriate and makes a good surfing-type mentor.   Wesson is easily believable as a charming kid who does the right thing always.  But in the end, this is really a film strictly for those who adore riding the waves or watching others hang ten.

  • ‘Sinister’ is a creepy chiller that could have used more fright

    ‘Sinister’ is a creepy chiller that could have used more fright

    Ethan Hawke in 'Sinister'
    Ethan Hawke in ‘Sinister’

    To clear something up, despite having a villain that targets children, Sinister is not about Jerry Sandusky. It is a requisite Halloween movie that delivers some scares, but hardly anything more.

    Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke) moves with his wife Tracy (Juliet Rylance), son Trevor (Michael Hall D’Addario), and daughter Ashley (Clare Foley) into a new home. An author of true crime books, Ellison is not taken all that kindly to by the sheriff (Fred Dalton Thompson), who holds him responsible for a killer going free in a past case due to the theory in one of his books. This house has a certain significance to Ellison, one that he keeps from his family but the town knows all too well: it’s the scene of a mass murder.

    The previous family, minus one child, was hung from a tree in the backyard; that child has since gone missing. And someone managed to record the whole thing. In the attic, Ellison finds a box with film reels and a projection machine. Firing it up, he sees for himself how it all happened, though there is no ostensible sign of the killer. Moving on to the next film, he witnesses a family being burned alive in their car. Again, no killer. He goes through them all and, sure enough, they all depict the murder of a family at their home.

    The creepy kids of 'Sinister'
    The creepy kids of ‘Sinister’

    But of course, when it comes to videos like these, one viewing is never enough. On re-watches, he begins to notice bizarre symbols and a strange, demonic face. He also finds a piece of artwork, simple drawings of all the murders and attributing them to a figure called “Mr. Boogie.” And, as always, odd things are happening around the house at night. The deputy (James Ransone), a fan of his who offers to help research the cases, suspects the supernatural at work and put him in touch with Professor Jonas (Vincent D’Onofrio). From the professor, Ellison learns just what he’s up against.

    From the opening that shows the footage of the family being hanged, the presence of dread is very strong. This is really due to the films. With a home movie “quality” to them, they are highly unsettling and (warning: corny pun ahead) sinister. The performances are pretty good too. Hawke, not really one associated with the genre, does an admirable job, as does Rylance in a breakthrough performance. D’Onofrio , Thompson, and Ransome offer great support, though should have been used much more.

    But it all builds towards a truly weak and unsatisfying conclusion. There’s no real fight or struggle to be had here, as well as containing a “reveal” that was fairly obvious all along. This is difficult to discuss without treading into spoiler territory, so I’ll just say this: the enjoyment for a film like this is seeing the characters put into a hole, and then seeing how they dig themselves out. Here, they don’t even try to leave.

    Ellison’s career trajectory was that he achieved high success and interest early on, but eventually ran out of steam and failed to generate triumph. That’s just about the right description for Sinister as a whole.

  • Tyler Perry is not great as brooding ‘Alex Cross’

    Tyler Perry is not great as brooding ‘Alex Cross’

    Tyler Perry gets into the action genre with 'Alex Cross'
    Tyler Perry gets into the action genre with ‘Alex Cross’

    Rob Cohen is a hit and miss director.  Hits that include The Fast and the Furious and xXx, and misses such as Stealth and The Skulls.  His latest film, Alex Cross, falls somewhere in between.

    Based on a character created by author James Patterson, “Cross” has been on the big screen before.  In Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider, he was portrayed by Morgan Freeman.  This time, Tyler Perry takes on the title role.

    The plot for Alex Cross is lifted from the 12th novel featuring  Patterson’s favorite detective. In it he’s a homicide detective in Detroit (a change from the books, which are generally set in Washington, D.C.).  Cross and his partner “Tommy Kane” (Edward Burns), along with another detective, “Monica Ashe” (Rachel Nichols) open the film chasing down and catching a criminal on the run.  Then Alex goes home to his wife while Tommy and Monica go home with each other, violating rules.

    Cross and Kane are then summoned to a crime scene that night and it’s a doozy.  A woman has been tortured and killed, along with her three bodyguards.  The killer left behind a charcoal drawing that contains a clue to his next target and soon Cross and team are racing to protect this target from the killer, known only as “The Butcher of Sligo” (Matthew Fox).  They manage to stop him from getting to his target, but they see him and he sees them.

    Cross, who is a psychologist and criminal profiler as well as a superior detective, is asked if he thinks the killer will come after his team and he says that’s not part of his profile… he turns out to be wrong.

    Matthew Fox ditches nice-guy 'Lost' persona for hardcore villain in 'Alex Cross'
    Matthew Fox ditches nice-guy ‘Lost’ persona for hardcore villain in ‘Alex Cross’

    The struggle between Cross and The Butcher becomes personal and the last half of the film is a race to prevent another murder. Cross also sets out for revenge and redemption, angry at himself for not recognizing that he and others he cares about were in jeopardy from this killer.

    I haven’t read this specific Patterson novel, but his works are usually excellent and he spins a great mystery yarn.  Alex Cross is a bit more action that one might anticipate from one of his mystery stories involving the titular character, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  Action sequences are one of director Cohen’s strengths.  Even in the horrible disaster that was Stealth, the action was very well done.  And that’s the case here.

    Perry is not great as the brooding, reflective detective.  An actor who might have been more into the psyche and less the physicality of the character would have been better.  Idris Elba was one of those mentioned as a possibility for this role and he might have been a better choice.  However, to Perry’s credit, he and Edward Burns have the kind of on-screen chemistry one would expect of life-long friends and cops who are long-time partners.

    Side stories about a teen girl who is taking the rap for a murder she didn’t commit provide needed plot points, but the film might have been better served by delving more into what makes the title character so interesting in the novels.  This isn’t a great film, but it’s definitely better than most are describing it and worthy of at least a bargain matinee.

  • ‘Smashed’ isn’t a smash hit, but it’s darn close

    ‘Smashed’ isn’t a smash hit, but it’s darn close

    Mary Elizabeth Winstead drinks too much in 'Smashed'
    Mary Elizabeth Winstead drinks too much in ‘Smashed’

    Films about someone suffering from alcoholism aren’t new.  Days of Wine and Roses, 28 Days and When a Man Loves a Woman are among those in the genre where at least one drunk finds reason to get sober.  Smashed takes the concept one step further, and while it hews closely to Days of Wine and Roses, it isn’t exactly the same story.

    “Kate Hannah” (Mary Elizabeth Winstead – Bobby, Death Proof) is married to “Charlie Hannah” (Aaron Paul – Mission: Impossible III) and they live in an ordinary house that has the unkempt appearance inside and out of the home of two people who drink too much (which they do).  It isn’t such a big deal for Charlie since he isn’t holding down a “real” job, relying instead on his wealthy family to provide for him.  But Kate is a first grade teacher and her drinking is causing problems at work.   Especially when she shows up for work hung-over and throws up in the classroom. Her students thinks she’s sick because she’s pregnant, and she goes along with that logic.

    Her boss, Principal Barnes (Megan Mullaly – Bee Movie) is solicitous and wants to enjoy Kate’s “pregnancy” vicariously since she was never able to have her own kids.  She sends the ill Kate home to recover, but as she’s headed out, Vice-Principal Davies (Nick Offerman – The Men Who Stare at Goats) confronts her and says he’d seen her drinking that morning and that this is not good for her baby.  In a moment of rare honesty, she admits to him that she isn’t pregnant and begs him to keep her secret.

    Aaron Paul and Mary Elizabeth Winstead in 'Smashed'
    Aaron Paul and Mary Elizabeth Winstead in ‘Smashed’

    We later find out that he is a recovering alcoholic and he wants to help her, but knows that she has to be the one to take the first, big step.  He invites her to a meeting.  There she meets “Jenny” (Octavia Spencer – The Help).  She approaches her about being her sponsor and Jenny agrees.  Soon she’s getting an anniversary pin (we’re never told if its 30, 60 or 90 days), but then things eventually begin to unravel.

    Some say you never really understand just how low you can sink until you truly hit bottom and that’s the point director/writer James Ponsoldt aims for with Smashed.  And it’s done very effectively.  Winstead’s performance is spot on as the good girl who just wants to have fun and can’t seem to do it without drinking. Where Smashed has issues, however, is with the roots of her addiction.  It falls back on a tired cliché to attempt to explain where her problems stem from and in so doing makes what happens to her relationship with Charlie seem like a foregone conclusion.

    Octavia Spencer is great as always and there’s just not enough screen time to let her shine properly.  The film is fairly short and it could have spent some time exploring the relationship between Jenny and Kate.  Nick Offerman is good in a role that’s intentionally written as being uneven.  The on-screen drunkenness and the sequences where Kate realizes just what she’s doing to herself have a gritty realism to them.

  • Helen Hunt shines in ‘The Sessions,’ a captivating tale of sex and human need

    Helen Hunt shines in ‘The Sessions,’ a captivating tale of sex and human need

    Helen Hunt and John Hawkes in 'The Sessions'
    Helen Hunt and John Hawkes in ‘The Sessions’

    Among living actresses, the list of those who have won two Academy Awards for Best Actress is a short one. It includes Glenda Jackson, Sally Field, Jane Fonda, Jodie Foster, Hillary Swank and now Meryl Streep.

    The Sessions may be the film that adds another name to that distinguished list, as Helen Hunt is radiantly brilliant as Cheryl, the sexual surrogate who works to help the late Mark O’Brien, played by John Hawkes (best known for his role as “Bugsy” in The Perfect Storm).

    O’Brien, who died in 1999 at the age of 49, contracted polio at the age of 6 and although not paralyzed, ended up living most of his life inside of an iron lung.  His muscles were simply too weak to allow him to move.  He attended UC Berkeley on a motorized gurney, had assistants caring for him and was a successful poet and writer.  But he longed for human contact, particularly with a woman, and when the chance came to write an article on sex and the disabled, it was the perfect confluence of opportunity and need uniting to fulfill his desires.  Especially since he had confessed that he loved Amanda (Annika Marks), one of his caretakers, and even proposed marriage to her.

    She had simply quit and left in response.

    He went to see a therapist who referred him to a sexual surrogate named Cheryl.  There were (and are to this day) rules about seeing sexual surrogates.  The number of sessions is limited to six, and since Mark’s bedroom had only the iron lung in it, he needed to arrange to meet with Cheryl elsewhere.  His assistants, Vera (Moon Bloodgood) and Rod (W. Earl Brown) were happy to wheel him to these assignations on his gurney, since he was no longer allowed to use the motorized version.

    Helen Hunt in 'The Sessions'
    Helen Hunt in ‘The Sessions’

    Before seeing her for the first time, he seeks guidance about the concept of sex outside of marriage from his Priest, Father Brendan (William H. Macy), who tells him that he thinks he should go for it.  The discussions between Mark and Father Brendan that are a combination of confession and advice-seeking are some of the funniest in the film.

    The most moving sequences aren’t so much the ones involving sex between Mark and Cheryl, but those that deal with the emotional bond that springs up between them.  One she recognizes is a train wreck in the making, a disaster she is powerless to avoid.  It even causes tension between her and her husband Josh (Adam Arkin) when he perceives that she has real feelings for Mark.

    How the sessions come to an end, Mark’s sudden confrontation with how frail his hold on life is and the aftermath are all best left to be viewed without explanation, description or pre-conceived expectation.

    The writing and direction are first rate.  Ben Lewin’s work here makes one want to check into his prior feature works because he is clearly a first-rate filmmaker.  Hawkes and Hunt are magical, together and separately.  He does it all without moving any muscles below his neck and it is very easy to believe that a real victim of polio was cast to play the role… which is of course not the case.  Hunt captures the ease with her body and at being naked in front of strangers that someone who earns a living as a sex surrogate would have.  The film even manages to illustrate why sex surrogates and prostitutes are completely different and how the role of a therapist overseeing those sessions makes it clinical as opposed to tawdry and cheap.

    The Sessions is an excellent film.  You will be moved, but it wasn’t cheap manipulation of your emotions through the use of maudlin storytelling.  Mark O’Brien’s life was an inspiring triumph over circumstance and should be enjoyed as such.

  • ‘The First Time’ is all about the time of teen angst

    ‘The First Time’ is all about the time of teen angst

    Victoria Justice and Dylan O'Brien in 'The First Time'
    Victoria Justice and Dylan O’Brien in ‘The First Time’

    The First Time is the story of two high school students, “Aubrey Miller” (Robertson) and “Dave Hodgman” (O’Brien), who meet in the alley behind a big house where a bunch of teens are engaged in some serious partying.

    Dave is back there all alone, practicing a speech he wants to deliver to “Jane” (Justice), who at that moment is with “the best looking guy in school”.  He is in love with Jane and is also a close friend of hers and you can almost smell the angst in the air.

    Aubrey asks to hear his speech and she is not impressed.  He’s a senior, she’s a junior, they go to different schools and had they not run into each other in that alley, they might have never met.  Worse yet, she has a boyfriend of sorts, “Ronny” (Frecheville), who is older, wiser, hipper and someone Dave could never compete with.

    When the party ends abruptly and both lose their rides home, Dave walks Aubrey the dozen or so blocks to her house where she invites him into her room.  After an awkward beginning, she ends up allowing him to stay, although nothing is going to happen just yet.  Well, except of course for Dave’s forced departure when they fall asleep and are awakened the next morning by her mother’s knocking on the door.  His exit from the second floor bedroom through a window and off of the adjacent roof is amusing.

    Brittany Robertson and Dylan O'Brien in 'The First Time'
    Brittany Robertson and Dylan O’Brien in ‘The First Time’

    Dave and Aubrey eventually meet again, and that leads to an entire weekend where the two get to know one another through events involving other people.  Ronny, Jane, Simon, Big Corporation and others, including Dave’s sister are there, but the focus is on Dave and Aubrey and how they are quickly falling for one another.

    Teen angst has been the subject of both brilliant and horrible filmmaking and The First Time is somewhere in between, although much closer to brilliance than horrible.

    Kasdan’s story of two people who would likely have never met and what brings them together and closer in the face of things that might have conspired to keep them apart is interesting.  But there are too many dialogue-driven scenes where the cleverness of the words overpowers the story and not enough of the really good scenes where the connection is as much non-verbal as verbal.  Dave and Aubrey have strong levels of insight into each other’s character and nature from the moment they meet and that’s much more interesting than dialogue that’s too hip for the room.

    The First Time also suffers from the fact that the settings aren’t very realistic.  Not every teen looks perfect, lives in a great big house, or has parents who are absent or who are absent even when they are there.  Backgrounds are never as important as the story in the foreground, but they can enhance or detract from that story and here the lack of realism is a bit disappointing.

    The chemistry between the leads is palpable and works well.  Justice is fine as the “hot chick” who may or may not be coming to grips with the realization that the guys she keeps choosing aren’t the right choices.  O’Brien and Robertson are perfectly cast, and they definitely “work” in these roles.

  • ‘Pusher’ is a remake that makes one long for the original

    ‘Pusher’ is a remake that makes one long for the original

    Richard Coyle in 'Pusher'
    Richard Coyle in ‘Pusher’

    The trend toward remaking great films from Scandinavia continues with this remake of the 1996 Danish film Pusher, which was so successful it spawned two sequels.  At least I’m told the original was great.  I didn’t see that original film, but I’m told by people whose opinions I value highly that it is a terrific.  It’s on my list of movies to watch.

    Sadly the same can’t be said for this remake helmed by Luis Prieto and starring Richard Coyle as “Frank”, the central character in this 89 minute drama that follows one week in the life of a drug dealer in London.  It isn’t the usual London of film, but non-touristy locations that we don’t normally see on a big screen and that’s one of the few things that works in the film’s favor.

    Frank owes one of his drug suppliers, “Milo” (Zlatko Buric) 3,000 pounds.  Interestingly, as the film opens, he closes a deal where he earns just that amount, but for some reason he chooses not to pay this money to Milo.  Instead, because his best friend “Tony” (Bronson Webb) has just connected him with “Hakan” (Mem Ferda), someone Ralph knew back in the day.  So Ralph borrows a kilo of coke from Milo. The deal is he will go and sell the coke and come right back with the money.  Tony is a goofy twit and doesn’t seem like much of an asset in Frank’s operation, rather he appears to be ultimately a liability.

    The deal goes wrong when the bobbies arrive.  Ralph flees and manages to dispose of the merchandise (the English word for coke is apparently “gear”) and the cops eventually let him go.  But not before convincing him that it was Tony who ratted him out.  He administers a beating to Tony that nearly kills him as a result, ending their friendship.

    Agyness Deyn and Richard Coyle in 'Pusher'
    Agyness Deyn and Richard Coyle in ‘Pusher’

    Now he owes Milo a lot of money and he’s desperate to get it.  He had another deal coming together because “Danaka” (Daisy Lewis) is in Amsterdam to smuggle more coke for him to sell back into England.  But Milo, who is incredibly patient for a crime boss, won’t wait forever.  The pressure is on, and it is ratcheted up when Milo’s thugs begin following Frank around.

    In the background is Ralph’s girlfriend, “Flo” (Agyness Deyn) who adores Ralph.  She and he both have problems with using drugs, but she seems willing to forgive almost anything he says or does, so deeply is she enamored of him.

    The life of Ralph is spiraling out of control over this week and that’s the first flaw in the story.  It begins with Ralph being shown as a no-nonsense kind of drug dealer.  He’s tough, ruthless and unyielding as demonstrated when someone tries to negotiate him down on the price of a deal.  Meanwhile, he’s using his own product and that usage seems to increase over the course of the week seen on screen.  He makes dumber and dumber decisions until at the end when he makes the most moronic call of all.

    Milo is a caricature of a criminal.  Real drug supplies don’t cut the people they work with that kind of slack and also don’t hire thugs dumb enough to hand loaded shotguns to people they just gave a beat-down to.  The film takes place over the course of a week and either Milo only owns one suit, or he has six of them in the same color, with the same stitching problems on them.  Considering his front is a shop that sells wedding dresses, that’s highly unlikely.

    The music the film uses is decent, and the pacing is fine.  I’m certain that the story was told in a much better fashion in the original, but here it just doesn’t work.  There is one terrific scene where “Flo” is shooting up in the fashion of real heroin users and its rawness give it a brief moment of stark realism that’s out of place with the rest of this hokey semi-homage to Trainspotting and the directorial style (or lack thereof) of Michael Bay.  There is little to recommend Pusher.  It isn’t even Trainspotting “lite”.  It’s worse than that.

    I can only recommend doing what I intend to do.  Check out the original and pass on the remake.