Noir wrapped in ivory silk

THE DEEP END (2001)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

(Originally reviewed in 2001)

I was stunned after seeing "The Deep End." Here is a film noir story with the machinations of the thriller genre but all wrapped in ivory silk, as if any and all cliches that could occur are withheld in the service of melancholia. This is noir that is not really bleak and a thriller that looks for behavioral characteristics to thrill us, all told with an absorbing sense of serenity that distinguishes it from most other thrillers.

The film begins with a jeep arriving at some undisclosed nightclub in Reno. A tall, lanky, red-headed woman warns a sleazy guy to stay away from her son. We are unaware of what the situation is but we know he represents sleaze and we know she is a worrisome mother. It turns out the mother's son, Beau (Jonathan Tucker), is having a homosexual affair with Darby Reese (Josh Lucas), the sleazy guy at the nightclub who owes a huge gambling debt. Beau's mother, Margaret (Tilda Swinton), wants him to stay away from Darby since all he represents is trouble. When Darby makes an unscheduled visit at their house in Lake Tahoe, Beau pleads with him to keep away. Darby will keep away if Margaret pays him $5,000. A fight ensues resulting in the accidental death of Darby. The next day Margaret finds the body and thus, the film's moral center takes over in an unusual, lyrical manner.

I will not say much more except that this serenely modest thriller is different from most Hitchcock thrillers in that usually the protagonist and the audience is aware of information that no one else is aware of. In this case, we know the truth behind the accidental death of Darby that no one else in the movie knows. Not even the seedy man from Reno knows (played by"E.R.'s" Goran Visnjic) who demands money to keep his mouth shut from what might be a potential murder. And Margaret does her best to keep calm and hide Darby's body. She wants to protect her son, her father-in-law, and her other son and daughter from the evils of the world, notably Reno.

Tilda Swinton is clearly the star of "The Deep End," imbuing the screen with a vitality and strength that is breathtaking to witness. I have only seen her in one other film, the magnificent "Orlando," but her performance here makes me want to pursue her earlier work. Perhaps even more so than Cate Blanchett, Swinton has a sense of authority as the doting, respectful mother that dominates the screen. It is no accident that the number of closeups in the film enhance her strong, magnetic presence. Interestingly, Swinton's Margaret seems to barely take notice of her children except for Beau - it is a family life where the father-in-law is more concerned about her than anyone else (including her unseen husband who is a Navy officer).

"The Deep End" is directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel III, who previously collaborated on "Suture." They have an uncanny eye for detail and savor appropriately breathless cinematic moments that never disrupt the pace or momentum. I found the shot of Swinton underwater while looking for car keys from Darby's body positively thrilling and unnerving to watch. Also look closely at framed shots of Swinton, usually seen from windows or from other obstructions (one extreme example is a fish-eyed lens shot reflected in a drop of water). Water and glass are prominently featured whenever Swinton's Margaret appears on screen and it nicely balances with the Lake Tahoe setting - prominent yet unassuming.

"The Deep End" is occasionally melodramatic towards the end and climaxes sooner than it should have. Still, a magnificent central performance by Swinton, not to mention an understated cast and a hauntingly lyrical tone that switches from engaging thriller to a heart-rending love story, more than makes up for it.

Small-town acts of violence

IN THE BEDROOM (2001)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"In the Bedroom" has all the hallmarks of a great film - nuanced performances, assured direction and a terrific script of sublime restraint. But like some potentially great films, something happens that prevents them from fulfilling their promise - an extraneous, flawed ending.

Set in the summer season of Camden, Maine, the movie opens with a shot of two lovers roaming in the fields, caressing and kissing each other. Not a word is said between them - love or lust is in the air. Frank Fowler (Nick Stahl), a graduate student, is the boyfriend of the more mature Natalie Strout (Marisa Tomei), a mother and a wife to a lout of a husband. Natalie is about to get divorced and Frank is convinced this woman is the one for him. Of course, Natalie has her problems. She has two kids and an abusive husband, Richard (William Mapother), who insists on moving back into their house to be near the kids. Richard wants Natalie back and is prepared to do anything to get her back.

Meanwhile Frank's parents, Ruth (Sissy Spacek) and Matt (Tom Wilkinson), feel that Frank should be tending to his studies, not to a woman he may not have a future with. Ruth is the more concerned, unforgiving parent who senses trouble around the corner of Frank's future. Matt simply wants his son to be happy and does not boss him around. A fight ensues between Frank and Richard but Frank's father agrees to keep the whole situation quiet.

"In the Bedroom" is the latest in the serene, melancholic noir stories where incidents in a small town determines a character's morality and puts them to the test. It is a methodical, keenly observant drama, told in the same lyrical style as "The Deep End." Therefore, like all films dependent on surprises, it would not be fair to reveal what happens in "In the Bedroom." The surprises and twists in the narrative say as much about the characters as a Hollywoodized plot would. But the last quarter of the film makes such a dramatic turn that I was a little angry and dismayed. Let's just say that Matt's character, a good man and a good father, commits an act of malevolence so unsuspecting and unbelievable that I could not see it as anything beyond a cop-out. Though the closing shots are nicely conveyed, the dramatic U-turn in plotting the development of Matt's character leaves something to be desired.

It is a shame really because three-quarters of "In the Bedroom" is riveting and compelling. Director and co-writer Todd Field (an actor making his feature debut) weaves an amazing cast of actors into phenomenal characterizations within the backdrop of a small town where nothing much happens. Ruth and Matt are two characters I will not soon forget. Ruth is a choral director by day who seems to lack much communication with her silent husband. Matt is a doctor by day who plays cards with his buddies and is mostly intent on living his life day-by-day. He might also be taking his wife for granted and Ruth senses this and acknowledges as such. Spacek and Wilkinson are a match made in heaven and wonderful to watch in each and every scene.

"In the Bedroom" is a film of silences and gestures - a look or a stare says more than an actual line of dialogue. Consider one terrifically timed scene where Matt sits at his buddy's restaurant by the window and he notices a truck that arrives and stops exactly where he sits. The logo on the truck is "Strout." Or consider moments where Ruth watches her husband mow the lawn after a tragic incident has taken place in their lives. Todd Field has a future as a director if he wishes to pursue it - he knows silence is golden in accentuating characters' emotions. It's just that his endings need improvement.

TANTRA, BABY!

GO (1999)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

(originally written in 1999)

I have become sickened by all the Tarantino rip-offs, too many to mention. Almost all have none of the grace, wit or humanity that dear Quentin invests in his own works. They are like well-designed wallpapers flung with graphic violence, countless obscenities, and numerous rock n' roll/rap songs and packaged as something shocking and new. Some star Michael Madsen, Martin Sheen or Dennis Hopper. "Out of Sight" was the most dazzling but that had the advantage of a great author, Elmore Leonard, as its basis, and Steven Soderbergh, a stylish director. The new "Go" is different - it's as symmetrically close to "Pulp Fiction" as you can imagine but it has an electric energy and volume all its own.

The film begins with a supermarket checkout girl named Ronna (soft-voiced and droopy-eyed Sarah Polley from "Sweet Hereafter") who establishes a drug connection for two handsome soap opera stars, Adam (Scott Wolf) and Zack (Jay Mohr). Ronna's drug of choice is ecstasy, which one member of her elite group nearly overdoses on and imagines speaking to a cat with Zen subtitles. Ronna has to deal with the seedy drug dealer, Todd (Timothy Olyphant), who has a propensity for sexual favors. But when her good friend, Claire (Katie Holmes), another supermarket checkout girl, is left alone with this devil, things truly go haywire.

After Ronna's predicament, we flash back to the beginning of the story told from the point-of-view of a thick-accented, red-haired Brit, Simon (Desmond Askew). Simon is a drug connection for Todd (Ronna is the replacement) and goes off to Vegas with his pals, including the suave Marcus (Taye Diggs) and a stoner who thinks he's black, Tiny (Breckin Meyer - always the pothead). Unfortunately, after a debacle involving backroom lap-dancers ("Do not touch!"), they are now on the run from a vicious gangster (the terrifically oily J.E. Freeman). And it is here where we experience one of the most dazzling car chases ever filmed to the tune of Steppenwolf's "Magic Carpet Ride."

Then the story flashes back again and we see the story told from the point-of-view of the two soap opera stars, who are working undercover under the tutelage of the Teutonic cop Burke (William Fichtner), a character that makes you squirm. Burke invites the pair to a Christmas dinner that is fraught with misunderstandings and unclear intentions. Let's just say it is a howler of a sequence, guaranteed to keep you laughing at its inevitable payoff.

The characters, as well as the audience, experience one near-catastrophe after another, and all the characters seem intent to make a whole 24-hour, Rashomon-like experience as dangerously exciting as possible with no inhibitions - they will do absolutely anything for thrills. There are gangsters, awry drug deals, dances to the tune of "Macarena," distorted visions, extreme violence, conversations about Tantric sex and the comic "The Family Circus," and lots more to feast the eyes and the ears.

"Go" is suffused with electric energy throughout - there is not a moment that is not thrilling or kinetic in any way. Director Doug Liman ("Swingers") frames his charismatic actors with tension abounding every step of the way by means of a constantly roving camera. The opening titles show a stroboscopic club where silhouetted patrons dance the night away in light blue hues, and the editing is lightning-paced. This brilliantly sets up the rest of the film's pace, and sometimes Liman will slow down long enough to study the actor's faces.

I enjoyed all the actors on screen, but Sarah Polley has a dole-like quality that is more realistic than the cardboard teens shown in other films - I could not stop looking at her. Katie Holmes displays a sensuousness and a charm that made me swoon. I also liked the merry soul of Taye Diggs, a definite star-in-the-making.

"Go" may remind many of "Pulp Fiction," but this film has its own momentum, and plenty of style to spare. It's a crazy film that will keep you on edge - funny, energetic, joyous, jolting, ironic, and tense. You can't ask for a better time at the movies.

Bogart some other joint

PINEAPPLE EXPRESS (2008)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Maybe if I had laughed more than I had in the first twenty minutes, I might have given "Pineapple Express" more than a pass. But after twenty minutes of spontaneous chatter about marijuana, the show "227" and some high-school theatrics, "Pineapple Express" becomes a depressingly and distressingly moronic and monotonous time-waster.

Seth Rogen is Dale, a process server who wears various disguises to deliver subpoenas. Dale loves to smoke weed and buys it from a drug dealer named Saul (James Franco), whose very existence is on being an intercontinental expert on weed. Oh, yes, Saul loves to smoke too, especially a type of weed called "Pineapple Express," the kind of weed that smells like "God's vagina" and smoking it is the equivalent of killing a unicorn. These types of absurd metaphoric lines are what makes "Pineapple Express" special at first - a sort of "Harold and Kumar" or Cheech and Chong stoked on an absurd, nirvana high. These scenes give the movie a special lively kick of zonked-out humor played with a certain level of restraint. Seth and Franco seem relaxed, confident, and stoned.

But then Dale witnesses a murder at Ted Jones' house - Ted Jones (Gary Cole) is supposed to be served with one of Dale's subpoenas but that can obviously wait. Jones also buys weed from Saul, especially the pineapple express which no one else outside of Ted or Saul smoke. Yes, Dale smokes some, and throws it out the window when he sees the shooting. A drug war starts between the Asian crime syndicate (do not ask) and Ted Jones and his band of incompetent hit men. They are looking for Dale, whom they mistake as Asian. Rosie Perez pops up as a crooked cop who participated in the murder. We get car chases, brutal beatings, shootings, burnings, crushed bodies, and a poor soul named Red (Danny R. McBride) who is shot several times but manages to survive, ready for battle. Then there is Dale's high-school girlfriend and Ed Begley, Jr. as the girl's father and more confusion inside suburbia, and the movie rambles on and on.

Unfortunately, precious little of this is funny. "Pineapple Express" automatically thinks that such a wayward, formulaic plot is funny, but it is nothing more than a toked remake of "True Romance" (Franco's stoned character is based on Brad Pitt's stoner in "True Romance"). In fact, director David Gordon Green amps up the violence to such a degree that you might think you stepped into a high-octane action picture. Tarantino could handle this sort of thing with flair and comic timing yet "Pineapple Express" becomes grossly overdone and thrusts on overkill with a huge body count. I won't say it rivals a Rambo picture but there are more killings than in "Pulp Fiction." There is a solidly hilarious car chase involving two police cars and Saul's leg stuck through the windshield. Unfortunately, there aren't enough of these wild, frantic visual gags as such. Compared to the Coens' classic stoner comedy, "The Big Lebowski," itself a stoned noir comedy that gradually loses interest in its own plot, "Pineapple Express" falls quite precipitously by comparison.

Seth Rogen is smartly cast and has a good rapport with James Franco - they have their bromance that actually works. Their early scenes at Saul's apartment or their endless chatter when stuck in the middle of the woods are witty and pungent. The rest of the movie just wallows in hysteria and drawn-out gunfire and repetitive stabbings, beatings, slashings, immolation, etc. It just leaves a nasty aftertaste for the alleged stoner comedy of the first twenty minutes. It needed more of "The Big Lebowski" stoned flavor to really be (s)toked.

Getting high on life

UP IN SMOKE (1978)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Stoner comedies are not my particular cup of tea but Cheech and Chong, the stoner duo du jour, can often make me laugh. Some of their subsequent comedies like "Nice Dreams" and "Things are Tough all Over" had the occasional laughs. Then there was the atrocious "Still Smokin," which I imagine one could endure by being injected with sodium pentathol so that one can safely sleep through it. "Up in Smoke" is clearly the best Cheech and Chong comedy ever, resorting to some pure laughs and silly standout sequences that will make you smile.

The movie establishes a stoner feel from the opening scenes. We see Cheech Marin as Pedro De Pacas, a stoner to be sure who wakes up from his couch and finds his foot in a bowl of cereal! Then he dances a little jig before getting into his car that has an interior of blue fur and other colorful assortments (reportedly Jack Nicholson's actual car at one time!) and the soundtrack cranks up a perfect stoner's song (or so I've been told), War's "Low Rider." Pedro picks up a drummer, Anthony "The Man" Stoner (Thomas Chong), whom he mistakes for a woman! Then The Man hands Pedro a fattie as humongous as fatties can get. This is followed by a brief dose of acid before being pulled over by the cops while Pedro laughs hysterically. Yes, it is that kind of movie.

Hot on their tail is Sgt. Stedenko (Stacy Keach), a determined cop who has incompetent partners and uses a cleaning service van as a cover. Nice idea. Meanwhile, Pedro and The Man get hold of a rinky-dinky van made out of potent hash and have to drive it from Mexico to California, without getting pulled over by the cops. Along the way we get plenty of laughs involving awry sting operations by the cops, Tom Skerritt as a Vietnam Vet with a noticeable birthmark, Cheech and Chong getting stoned out of their minds from scene to scene, a red-haired woman who has an accent that is difficult to discern, a dog that passes out from smelling that mary jane smoke, and a fairly rousing battle of the bands climax (though there is no real ending).

There are some lulls and one too many scenes of Chong falling flat on his face yet this is a sweet, likable, thoroughly spirited movie. "Up in Smoke" will still depend largely on your tolerance level towards Cheech and Chong. If it is high (no pun intended), you'll enjoy the heck out of it. If it is low, consider smoking a big fattie instead.

Imagine a peaceful nation

THE U.S. VS. JOHN LENNON (2006)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

(Originally reviewed in 2007)

When I think of the late John Lennon, I think of one word: Peace. That is what encapsulated the meaning of his famous song, "Imagine," and more obviously, "Give Peace a Chance." But peace can be seen as a threat to the national order, specifically our government, and especially during a time of war. The latest documentary about Lennon, "The U.S. vs. John Lennon," focuses on the goverment's attempt to shut him up and bring him down.

John Lennon has always been the abrasive, outspoken Beatle, despite his pacifist, ideological views. In a sense, he was the most confrontational and the one people really listened to. No other celebrity has ever managed to have a bedroom protest for days with the media present, sing "Give Peace a Chance" repeatedly and have others sing along, give numerous interviews on the "Mike Douglas Show" and the "Dick Cavett Show" and, in short, make our goverment and our own President of the U.S. nervous. The real question is: why did Lennon make them nervous? Perhaps, Lennon's savvy skills as a PR person, as well as maintaining press conferences, giving interviews, spreading his message of peace and trying vainly to end the Vietnam War were all too prevalent - clearly, the message was working. Yoko Ono was his partner, but radical activists who decried the war are also mentioned, including the late Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin. Lennon took it a step further - he became a latter-day Gandhi and used rock n' roll as his tool, and bed-ins for instrumenting change.

The film's time period runs roughly from 1966 until Lennon's unfortunate murder in December of 1980. We see the mop-topped Beatle was no ordinary Beatle at all - he infamously claimed that his band, the Beatles, was more popular than Jesus. Though later Lennon clarified his error, he did say that they were in fact more popular after all. As everyone knows, the Beatles didn't remain a group forever, thus enabling John Lennon to carve his own personal niche with his own songs, recorded his way (we hear over 40 of them from "Well, Well, Well" to the tear-inducing, powerful peace anthem "Give Peace a Chance" to "Beautiful Boy"). Interestingly, as high profile as Lennon got (and he certainly eclipsed Hoffman and Rubin), the more trouble he was for the Nixon administration. Nixon, the late Strom Thurmond and the other powers-that-be bugged Lennon's phones, followed him everywhere (and not always incognito) and even tried to get him deported due to a marijuana charge back in England! As clearly stated by John Dean, former White House Counsel for Nixon, the peace demonstrations were a definite concern. Let's not forget the "War is Over - If You Want It" signs/billboards that were plastered all over the world.

The problem is that some of this focus is lost when we hear only incidental interviews from certain parties. Jerry Rubin, Angela Davis, Black Panther co-founder Bobby Seale, liberal author Gore Vidal, and Yoko Ono contribute some positive insights about Lennon and the paranoia of the times. As for the negative insights of this Beatle, we hear strong words from G. Gordon Liddy who feels that if Lennon hated America and its war, he should've left (Mighty strong words coming from someone who contributed to the Nixon resignation in such ugly times). Incredibly, Liddy feels even less apologetic about the Kent State massacre. But we hear precious little about Lennon's thoughts on the unpopular war, or even from those close to him. We do know that after Nixon got re-elected, Lennon stayed out of the limelight - perhaps he knew that peace was not an option anymore. But why did he give up? What happened in those years after Nixon got re-elected and Vietnam ended? And is there an implication from Yoko that Lennon was killed by the government, hence Mark David Chapman, Lennon's assassin, and that he was a trained CIA operative? Did the government still feel Lennon was some sort of threat to the upcoming Reagan era?

As a film, "The U.S. vs. John Lennon" definitely recaptures those trying times and the hope that things could change. In many ways, it is still relevant in the Bush era, considering we have an unpopular war that hardly anybody wants. But nobody is expressing peace or hope the way John Lennon did during Vietnam - we have no one to motivate us and spring for a change and counter the way our goverment behaves. All we have, for better or worse, is Rosie O'Donnell, Bill Maher, John Stewart and a host of comedians doubling as political experts who bash Bush and the war any chance they get. But nobody is truly saying, "Give peace a chance." Maybe it is too scary a thought in this day and age, even for our Democratic presidential candidates, to utter such a word. Lennon did use it, and meant it. He saw beyond politics, as even the late John F. Kennedy did.

I certainly admire "The U.S. vs. John Lennon" but I think it shortchanges John Lennon, presenting him more as the myth than the man. We know he had his foibles and flaws, and I only wish the filmmakers showed more of that. Or maybe they just want to continue to provide Lennon as the synonym for peace. Maybe that is not such a bad idea after all.

Space Oddity rivets the attention

MOON (2009)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Moon" is an odd duck of a movie, so relentlessly sad and despairing that it might make sentimentalists crazy. Of course, "Moon" is also a throwback to a bygone era, the 1970's sci-fi flicks that told stories in imaginative and unusual ways in unusual settings. Yep, some of them had sad endings too.

Sam Rockwell is Sam Bell, an astronaut at a lunar station, and his three year stint of sending canisters of helium-3 back to Earth (our planet is in worse shape than it is now) and tracking harvesters, which extract helium from moon rocks that provide pollution-free power back to our home planet, is coming to an end. This job looks quite boring and he is the sole occupant of this station. Sam does talk to computers, specifically a talkative, sometimes intrusive HAL-9000-type computer named GERTY (voiced by Kevin Spacey) who is his eyes and ears to any transmission sent or received to Earth, including video messages sent by Sam's wife and daughter. But something is happening to Sam. He hallucinates and thinks a girl is in the station that could be his daughter. A video transmission is apparently tampered with. When he investigates problems with the harvester in his rover, there is an accident and somehow Sam is dragged back to the infirmary. How is this possible if GERTY is always inside the station? Is there someone else on the moon?

I rather not give away too much information but, suffice to say, there may be more going on the station than Sam Bell is aware of. The trick in a film dealing with loneliness (and what can be more lonely than space?) is finding the right actor to keep us motivated and compelled. Debuting director Duncan Jones could not have chose anyone better than Sam Rockwell, an underappreciated actor whose offbeat nature keeps us guessing and wondering. Rockwell doesn't have a predictable bone in his range of mannerisms, and supplies just enough credibility and compassion to make us care for his plight. There is also some business about how Lunar Industries, a fictional company, is implementing cost-cutting measures to have their lucrative business kept afloat without losing a dime. I will not reveal how this is happening but I can say Rockwell and especially GERTY keeps us wondering. Once the truth is out, the film grows more despairing and more thoughtful.

"Moon" reminds me a lot of "Silent Running," a highly offbeat sci-fi picture from the 70's that starred Bruce Dern. Whereas "Silent Running" dealt with environmental concerns, "Moon" deals with the fragility of humanity in intriguing ways, and the dire cost of outsourcing jobs. I can't say more than that, or maybe I have said too much already. GERTY might have recommended keeping this review down to a single paragraph to avoid potential spoilers. If you like sci-fi films that deal with ideas, put your thinking caps on and you will have quite an experience with "Moon." I am sure GERTY would agree.