Misery Loves Music

HIGH FIDELITY (2000)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Originally Reviewed: March, 2000

I could not identify with Rob Gordon's unique ability to not only remember the names of past lovers and the extent of their relationships, but to also know which pop/rock and roll songs were playing at the time, exclusively on vinyl. Music is an identifiable factor for Rob, it includes a different era of Fleetwood Mac and Paper Lace, and that is at the heart of Stephen Frears' delicately oddball romantic comedy "High Fidelity," which is more oddball comedy than romantic but it delivers in nearly equal doses and that is part of its charm.

Based on Nick Hornsby's 1995 cult novel of the same name, John Cusack plays the record-loving Rob who owns a small Bohemian-like record shop in Chicago called Championship Vinyl, which specializes in selling records wrapped in plastic (vinyl has not lost its touch since it is still sold in record shops, especially in New York City or Princeton, N.J.). Rob speaks directly to the camera, ruminating on his past top five breakups, most recently Laura (Iben Hjehle), while giving us the pop history of each breakup - the song that played and where it played as a reminder of that misery. Or as Rob puts it, "I don't remember if I was miserable when I listened to pop music or if listening to pop music made me miserable."

Laura has left Rob's pad but he loves her too much to just let go. She lives with a sexual hippie (hilariously portrayed by Tim Robbins) who is a martial-arts master. We get more than a few scenes of Rob dripping wet like a madman in the rain while calling Laura from outside her new home - this almost seems like an extension of the classic "Say Anything" by director Cameron Crowe that also starred Cusack in a similar scenario. All Rob has left in his life, minus Laura, is his record store and two employees, the geeky, apologetic Dick (Todd Luiso) and the musically encyclopedic, irascible Barry (Jack Black) who is ticked off by anyone who does not share his music tastes. I love the moment when they discuss "Evil Dead 2" and its "great soundtrack" or Barry's recommendation to use "You Can't Always Get What You Want" at Laura's father's funeral:

Dick: 'That is an immediate disqualification on the grounds of it being used in "The Big Chill".'

Barry: 'Oh, God. You are right.'

Besides his listless life without Laura, Rob is a part-time DJ and briefly beds a sexy singer (Lisa Bonet) who shares Rob's lovelorn disappointments and sings Peter Frampton songs. And we get glimpses of Rob's obsession over his past loves, shown in brief flashbacks. He is so obsessed that he arranges to meet all five and figure out why he has failed them. Most memorable of these ex-girlfriends include Lili Taylor as an unhappy yet sometimes cheerful woman (only Lili can credibly play such a part) and Catherine Zeta-Jones as a rich, wild, pseudo-intellectual woman who is confused by Rob's need to explain why she left him.

"High Fidelity" is familiar turf, a lot of is reminiscent of some of the best parts of "Singles," one of my favorite comedies of the 90's. Still, thanks to director Stephen Frears' offbeat direction and Scott Rosenberg and Cusack's writing, the laughs come in with terrific precision mainly due to Cusack's dead-on, quirky line readings. The cast is richly entertaining to watch, including the histrionic, energetic Jack Black, and a marvelous Joan Cusack as Rob's friend who is shocked to discover how Rob treated Laura. I also enjoyed the presence of Hjejle - for once in these comedies, a real human being of the opposite sex shows how deeply hurt she is by a man's transgressions. Though the film loses momentum in the last half hour building to the predictable final act with Laura, "High Fidelity" has oodles of charm and a consistently jerky funny bone. It's uneven, like Cusack, but you expected that.

Lord of Darkness steals idyllic light

LEGEND (1985)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Like most Ridley Scott films, "Legend" is far and away one of the most beautifully crafted films in eons, but in terms of story, it is extremely hollow and that can spell danger for a fairy tale of this kind. Feeling like a compendium of fairy tales and magical tales like "The Lord of the Rings" and Grimm's stories, it offers much to be excited by but little to be moved or inspired by.

"Legend" begins with Lil (Mia Sara), a young woman who represents innocence and who is deeply in love with Jack (Tom Cruise, in his first long-haired-hippie-look role), a forest dweller. They live in a land of innocence, and everything is in bright, beatific colors with the sun shining brightly everywhere. Lilies and flowers and tremendous trees fill the area. Unicorns run through the misty waters. Nothing could ever upset this idyllic view, but something inevitably does. There is the prince named the Lord of Darkness (Tim Curry) who wants to shut the sunlight from this land forever. He gets help from snickering, ugly creatures with big snot-noses to turn the cheery countryside into a land of gloom and doom. And the one code to live by in this world is to never kill a unicorn but the creatures successfully manage to do just that, causing storms and inclement weather to destroy the serenity.

But this is not enough of a story to make a film of such beauty work. We see fascinating creatures of every size and shape, we see the customary gnomes, fairies, elves, goblins, unicorns and so on, but little here stirs our imagination or involvement. The main human characters, Jack and Lil, are given little depth or any real emotions - they seem to be replicants from director Scott's own "Blade Runner." Whatever love story exists is lost since Cruise and Sara have no durable rapport. The special-effects and the dazzling cinematography take precedence over story and character development.

It is a shame really because "Legend" has some bravura moments. I especially like how Lil approaches a unicorn in one scene, or the dance sequence where Lil is possessed into loving Darkness (a deleted scene from the European version). There is plenty to admire and Scott is efficient at creating a strange new world. Someday, he may put a little more effort into the people that inhabit such a world.

Shepherding too many characters

THE SHIPPING NEWS (2001)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

A movie starring Kevin Spacey, Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett, Scott Glenn and Julianne Moore? And directed by Lasse Hallstrom? I am there. Well, I was there and was underwhelmed. "The Shipping News" is fitfully engaging at times, but its haphazard moods and tones almost wreck it beyond belief, despite the talented cast and director.

For starters, Kevin Spacey has a most unusual role. He plays the hapless, dim-witted Quoyle, an inksetter for the Poughkeepsie News, who has an affair with a brunette tigress named Petal (Cate Blanchett). They get married, have a daughter named Bunny, and live in their own house. The trouble is Petal is having affairs on the side while Quoyle is left helpless raising their daughter by himself. "Why don't you get yourself a girlfriend," suggests Petal. One day, Petal leaves with Bunny, and a tragedy occurs where Petal dies and Bunny is left at some black market adoption agency. Naturally, Quoyle rescues her before his never-before-seen aunt, Agnis (Judi Dench), has come to collect the ashes of Quoyle's uncle. Oh, I forgot to mention that Quoyle's uncle dies.

At this point, "The Shipping News" has enough material for a feature-length film. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, the movie's real journey begins when Agnis takes Quoyle and Bunny to Quoyle Point, Newfoundland, where everyone can get a fresh start. They stay at a house overlooking the countryside that is held by strong cables so it will not blow away (Canadian winds are fierce year round). Thus, Quoyle gets a job at the Gammy Bird, a newspaper where any fisherman can become a journalist with the right training. The newspaper's main stories involve car wrecks and oil tankers. Plus, there is a relationship involving a widow named Wavey (Julianne Moore, back with her eyebrows intact. I tend to notice these things when it involves my favorite actors). Wavey has a son and is grieving over the loss of her husband, or so we think.

"The Shipping News" runs 111 minutes and is too short for all the multiple characters and situations involved. For instance, the movie skims past Petal's character and her marriage to Quoyle in less than half an hour (and there are fleeting glimpses of Petal afterwards, particularly when Quoyle sees or talks to Wavey). Bunny is one of those odd children who is stubborn and unfriendly, and possibly a mental case according to Quoyle, and is able to see future events in her dreams. But after a while, the movie skips past her character completely and focuses on the journalists at the Gammy Bird, then focuses on Scott Glenn who plays Quoyle's boss, then shifts to Agnis's past, and on and on. The purpose of an adaptation is to basically focus on the theme of the novel, which is Quoyle's transformation from small-town loser to an articulate and assertive man who discovers his roots and his needs. Knowing this much would mean that Bunny, Agnis, Wavey and Petal are the characters responsible for Quoyle's transition.

I have read the novel by Annie Proulx and, after seeing this film, it is clear that there are too many underdeveloped characters as a result of the screenwriter's willingness to do too much. As I said, the cast is fine (though Dench struck me as being wooden), the breathtaking cinematography by Oliver Stapleton evokes a natural time and place, and the music by Christopher Young is enveloping in ways that most modern scores today are not. Yet Lasse Hallstrom's direction of the story's tonal shifts are garbled and perfunctory. The writing is unfocused, though peppered with some humorous touches (I like the headlines we hear in Quoyle's voice-overs). In the end, it's simply too much of a good thing.

Searching for a buffalo nickel

AMERICAN BUFFALO (1996)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

(Originally reviewed in 1997)

Based on David Mamet's own fabulous play from the 70's, "American Buffalo" is the latest dark, uncompromising David Mamet work of two lowlifes. It is hard-hitting and gut-wrenching, and often tough to take.

"American Buffalo" is based on a David Mamet play from 1975, and it stars as Dennis Franz as Donny, the owner of a junk shop who mistakenly sells a buffalo nickel for ninety dollars reputed to be worth more than twice that amount. He conspires with the grungy Teach (Dustin Hoffman), who practically hangs out at the junk shop daily, to rob the nickel from the buyer's house. The trouble is that a semi-trustworthy kid (Sean Nelson) has bought the same nickel, but from whom?

The film is essentially a three-character play, and it succeeds in never being stagy or dull. Director Michael Corrente never chooses to be flashy for the look of the film - there is no need. The junk shop looks like a dusty junk shop with amber tones, and the town looks desolate with hardly a soul in sight.

As for the three characters, it would be difficult to imagine actors better suited to the roles. The magnetic Hoffman, appearing like a long-haired hippie, is often too frenetic but he performs with gusto as the loquacious Teach who mistrusts everyone. Dennis Franz is more restrained as a man slowly erupting in anger at the thought that a kid may have betrayed him - his verbal exchanges with Hoffman are about as juicy and profanity-laden as expected from the acid pen of Mamet. The ending shocks because we get to know the characters so well, that an unexpected single violent action may lead some to leap forward from their viewing chairs. It is refreshing to know one can care that much about characters (including Sean Nelson, the most sympathetic character in the film) who are somewhat seedy and have a solely vested interested in a coin.

 "American Buffalo" is not on the same wavelength as previous Mamet works such as "Oleanna" or "House of Games," but it is a captivating and engrossing look at failed, miserable men.

Tears of a Clown who lived in a van down by the river

I AM CHRIS FARLEY (2015)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

I managed to elude Chris Farley from my moviegoing habits, as well as his Saturday Night Live viewings. To be fair, during the 90's, I had not seen Adam Sandler and Phil Hartman engaging in comical shenanigans on SNL (though I had seen some of their movies). But I have seen clips of Mr. Farley since and he was certainly a raucous, wildly out-of-control comedian who (if memory serves from having read about him in Entertainment Weekly in the 90's) drank 40 cups of coffee a day, engaged in drugs and alcohol and came through the screen, both big and small, as a runaway freight train ready to entertain. It is the sadness clouded by his comical outbursts that remains the most insightful aspect of the documentary, "I am Chris Farley."

Farley's fairly happy upbringing in Madison, Wisconsin is evoked whimsically, and his siblings and his father goofed around a lot. Dad (an oil company owner) was serious when he needed to be, yet he couldn't help but laugh about Chris's outrageous behavior in school. After Chris had done several improv shows at Chicago's Improv Olympic and Second City theatres, SNL in New York and breaking into the movie business expeditiously, he became a movie star with comedies like "Tommy Boy" and "Black Sheep." Reaching mainstream success in his early 30's, Chris had no time to adjust to his newfangled fame. His realization that having a really good time and knowing who your friends are and who may or may not have an ulterior motive became his cross to bear.

Most of "I Am Chris Farley" is tinged with sadness and regret, mostly because there was not enough of a career post-Chicago and SNL to see what he could really accomplish. In that sense, it is like hearing about John Belushi's premature death due to drugs - another comedian who had just barely tested the waters. Directors Brent Hodge and Derik Murray unveil precious moments with Chris's siblings and his own friends and guest co-hosts from SNL (including Adam Sandler, Mike Myers, Christina Applegate and many more). There are copious tidbits from Chris's partner-in-crime, David Spade, whose most revealing comment is that he was never the same again after Farley's passing. That is the most insightful moment, that and Chris's own father responded good-naturedly to Chris's pratfalls in school (dropping trou for one). The documentary doesn't exactly criticize the comedian or demonize his drug habits, thankfully. It is a reaffirmation of a lovable goofball who wanted to make people smile, but couldn't smile at himself. 

Wilson the volleyball is my friend

CAST AWAY (2000)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Originally reviewed in 2000

When it comes to Tom Hanks, it is difficult to criticize him. Why you may ask? Because as an actor, he becomes so enveloped in his roles that it is hard to notice when he is or isn't acting - the Jimmy Stewart of our generation simply becomes the characters he plays without any obvious tics or methods to his madness. And make no mistake, Hanks is not playing himself, he is acting but since it is invisible, it is harder to trace. From his Oscar-winning turn in "Philadelphia" to last year's sympathetic prison guard in "The Green Mile," Hanks is one of our best actors because he consistently surprises audiences and critics alike in his choice of roles. As the efficient Chuck Noland, Hanks has his most demanding role to date, eschewing his soft side for a more snippy side considering the location he is placed in - the rough terrain of a lost island.

At the start of the film (in a far too long prologue), Chuck is already in a race against time considering he is a Fed-Ex employee. He chastises the Russians in Moscow for late arrivals of packages (he keeps timers inside packages he self-mails to prove his point). His intent is to keep the business efficient and on the mark, or else the whole company will end up like the U.S. mail.

Chuck barely maintains an intimate relationship with his girlfriend, Kelly (Helen Hunt), whom he tries to propose at Christmas time in good old Memphis (It is no surprise to discover that Chuck is an Elvis lover). Unfortunately, time is another scapegoat as Chuck is off on another trip in his busy work schedule, delivering a package that must arrive overnight to its designated location. He hands Kelly an engagement ring in a box, to be opened when he gets back. And off he goes yet during a catastrophic thunderstorm, the plane crashes near some uncharted island...and if you have seen the trailers for this film, you'll know Chuck becomes a castaway and is thus cast away as well from civilization.

Chuck arrives in this uninhabited island on a deflated raft. Some Fed-Ex packages wash ashore as well, but what is this man going to do? He has no cell phone, no plane, hardly any food except for coconuts (a natural laxative), and is in an island where nobody ever comes through. He has to depend on his survival instincts of course which develop rather quickly, including spearing fish, building fires, gathering wood, making videotape with rope, using roller skates as cutting tools, living inside a cave for shelter, and so on. Chuck is our modern-day Robinson Crusoe without benefit of videographers or unwanted bystanders from the popular "Survivor" show - he is truly an isolated man who finds a partner in a Wilson volleyball.

The scenes on the island are truly awesome, and director Zemeckis is often at his best here evoking long silent pauses in many of these scenes, as it should be. At least we are spared the bickering of Anne Heche and Harrison Ford in the charmless "Six Days, Seven Nights." This is an existential journey for Chuck, left pondering about his existence and his girlfriend Kelly and if he will ever get out of the island. How long can a man talk to a volleyball before becoming insane?

I will not give away too much more of "Cast Away" but I will say that the film's bookends are less stronger than the crux of the story - a man's survival in an unnamed island forced to deal with the losses in his life. This was the same flaw in "Green Mile" and "Saving Private Ryan" - when will Hanks step out of these damn bookends? The last few scenes in the film do work, and there is a level of ambiguity that is much appreciated in these days of cookie-cutter Hollywood movies. But it is not as powerful as all those scenes on the island.

Hanks does some of his best work ever here, exuding a little toughness, snippiness and cynicism about himself and his past and future existence - this may well be Hanks's first existential, fully mature leading man role to date. The transformation from a fastidious workaholic to a harried man ("I just have to keep breathing") is quite affecting to watch.

Helen Hunt, an often bland actress, gives a surprisingly touching performance. Her Kelly is aware that Chuck may not always be there for her because of his strenuous job, and thus becomes aware of loss early on. It's a small role for Hunt but not a thankless one (as it was in "What Women Want"), and about as magnetic as her work in the Oscar-winning "As Good as it Gets."

"Cast Away" is finally about loss and how to deal with it in purely fundamental terms. Being cast away from civilization as we know it may be a greater loss than one can fathom, and Chuck knows it for the period of time he remains on the island. If the opening and closing sequences had been truncated somewhat and if Zemeckis had spent more time on that island, then "Cast Away" would have been a superb motion picture. As it stands, it is a solid entertainment and there are scenes as moving as any I've seen in all of 2000, yet it could have been so much more. Still, my vote stands for "Cast Away," casting aside "Survivor" any day of the week.

When Women Wanted Mel Gibson

WHAT WOMEN WANT (2000)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

(Originally reviewed in 2000)

When I go to the movies as frequently as I do, I eavesdrop on people's responses. I can tell you that after I sat through a screening of "What Women Want," what women want is Mel Gibson, pure and simple. Gibson is often a delight to watch in this movie but he is not allowed to break loose and neither is most of the cast. What remains is an insipid, boring, snail-paced romantic comedy that trashes the outrageous concept it has in store. That can't be what women want.

Gibson plays Nick Marshall, a self-important womanizer and ad executive (aren't they all in these kinds of movies?), who one day has a freak accident while trying out new women's products. Nick suddenly develops the ability to hear women's innermost thoughts (not to mention a female poodle!), their desires, wants, and essentially what they are really thinking when on a date or having sex or walking by him. Nick is annoyed at first at this magical new sense, but he learns to use it to his liking. He has his eye on the cafe waitress (played with alarming zing and smooth sex appeal by Marisa Tomei), who apparently wants Nick sexually. This works in Nick's favor, and the irony is that Nick has not changed much - he just knows what women want from him and he learns to listen to them as much as anything else.

"What Women Want" has a terrific premise that is squandered by far too many subplots. There is the silly romance between Nick and the new boss of the agency, Darcy Maguire (Helen Hunt), a position Nick had coveted. Hunt and Gibson have zero chemistry and so their romance barely lit my fire. Then there is the whole song-and-dance about Nick's teenage daughter whom he is trying to understand and come to terms with - there is even a cliched montage where the daughter dresses up in various prom dances to the tune of a pop song. How many more of those do we need?

And to add more insult to injury, there is the suicidal worker in the agency whose thoughts naturally register to Nick. Nick sees trouble and tries to save her but what the heck does any of this have to do with the movie's main focus on Nick's superb ability, often leading to bedding women? It just feels tacked on as a simple-minded moral statement about using one's uncommon gift to good advantage. Oh, please!

The problem is that "What Women Want" does not truly exploit its central idea - a man listening to and hearing women's thoughts is ripe for lots of imaginative scenes. And what if Nick had another freak accident and could hear men too? The possibilities are endless. Think of "Being John Malkovich" which took its idea of people entering the mind of Malkovich and milked it for all it was worth. The difference is that "What Women Want" doesn't have the courage of the former - it wants to be a chick flick where women can swoon over the close-ups of Gibson's face and restrained charm while he tries to romance Helen Hunt. Hunt is so vapid in this movie and Gibson becomes so monotonous in his comic delivery (save for the final scene between him and Tomei) that audiences, particularly women, are more likely to groan.