Cheap Trick

 TAKING LIVES (2004)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Originally viewed on March 20th, 2004

Peter Bogdanovich once made a startling comment about Orson Welles's "Touch of Evil." He said that it took more than twenty viewings before he realized there was a plot. That means he was taken in by the innovative style and atmosphere of the film. Indeed, "Touch of Evil" is one of the best noir thrillers ever
made, and all the more innovative for its strong, stark photography and sublime use of overlapping sound. Amazingly, "Taking Lives" is superbly shot and tightly edited and has a strong sense of atmosphere as well. Well, at least for the first hour, until it becomes as overdone as a sirloin steak. And I do not believe there is much of a plot either, so don't ask me to watch it nineteen times.

Angelina Jolie plays Illeana Scott, a soft-spoken FBI agent assigned to a murder case in Montreal. For some reason, the French-Canadian cops do not have access to FBI agents in their own country so they get one from Washington, D.C. Perhaps FBI has no offices in Canada (though I am sure there must be some) or none of the agents look like the babelicious Angelina Jolie. Ah, a better reason. The murder involves a disfigured body, presumably with the eyes buried underneath the skin! Ms. Scott has to find the villain, and so we meet two potential suspects. One is James Costa (Ethan Hawke), a successful gallery owner who had witnessed another crime involving someone's head getting bashed
in. The other is a mystery figure played by Kiefer Sutherland, whom I can't say much about because I am still not clear what his relation is to the story. So who killed whom? What is the deal with these disfigured bodies? And how about the basement sequence where the presumed killer is hiding under a bed? Or the concerned mother (Gena Rowlands) who says her son is still alive?

What we have here is a film full of red herrings and twists that lead nowhere. All I can say is that I guessed who the killer was from the beginning. Therefore, we lurch forward waiting for some element of surprise, something to make us guess that our initial suspicions were false. Or perhaps we can learn a
little something about Jolie's agent, whose only noticeable quirk is that she sleeps in the area where the murder victims are found. Outside of that, she is not half as interesting as Jodie Foster's Clarice Starling in "Silence of the Lambs," the model by which all female enforcers are to be judged. Ethan Hawke
is less charismatic than usual, but he does try. The French Canadian cops (two of whom are played by Jean-Hughes Anglade and Tcheky Karyo, both from "La Femme Nikita") are given little screen time except for the tough cop (Olivier Martinez) who hates Ms. Scott and even gives her a good wallop. Only Kiefer Sutherland comes across with presence and vitality. His one superb moment is done with no dialogue - he tries to get Hawke's attention by tapping a glass partition with the ring on his finger. That singular moment has more suspense and verve than almost anything else in the movie.

"Taking Lives" has a brilliant opening credits sequence (no doubt inspired by "Seven") and, as I said, the first half of the movie has the intensity of an above-average thriller. But then the movie veers into a hot lava bed of melodrama (that includes a car chase and a fiery explosion!) and closes with a
cheap trick that gives new meaning to the word "implausible." It is the sort of cheap, false, dishonest ending you might expect in an Angelina Jolie movie. Anyone care to remember "Original Sin"?

Switching faces

 FACE/OFF (1997)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Originally viewed in the spring of 1998

After seeing the implausible "Air Force One," I thought to myself - the action genre is dead and buried. Then comes "Face/Off," which is superior in every way despite having an even more ludicrous storyline.

The vibrant John Travolta plays an FBI agent, Sam Archer, whose son was killed by a colorful, psychopathic terrorist named Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage). Sam has a vendetta and wants to capture Castor. Castor is caught and wounded, and placed in a coma. Sam has a problem, though: he needs to find a bomb that is planted somewhere in the vast metropolis of Los Angeles. Despite some objections, Sam has his face surgically removed and implanted with the comatose Castor's! This way, Sam can pretend to be Castor making it easier to find where the bomb is
hidden. Problem is the real Castor has awakened from his coma, and has had his face surgically implanted with Sam's! Farfetched? You bet.

The difference between "Face/Off" and "Air Force One" is that "Face/Off" is actually great fun and it's also wickedly entertaining: it takes its inventive premise and brings it to life with imagination and fire. The tour-de-force is
John Travolta and Nicolas Cage who each cleverly play two roles: Travolta is the obsessed, quiet, compassionate Sam, and also plays the devious, evil Castor unbeknownst to Sam's family (they include Joan Allen as Sam's wife, Dominique Swain as his daughter). There's one priceless moment where Travolta as Castor gleefully announces, "Things are going to change around here."

Cage naturally plays the grandiose Castor who walks around in red and black attire complete with two gold-plated guns, and he also convincingly adopts Sam's placid nature while trying to prove to Castor's foes that he is the brutal
Castor, and simultaneously tries to prove to his wife that he is the real Sam! Both actors pull this off brilliantly (and they should be nominated for Oscars). Travolta had the best role (or roles) of his career since "Pulp Fiction," and
Nicolas Cage proves that he hasn't lost his offbeat nature (look at the hilarious scene where he dons priestly robes and sings "Hallelujah!").

"Face/Off" is that rarity: a smart, complex, humanistic, fast-moving character study draped with director John Woo's trademark slo-mo, close-up visuals and outrageous, explosive action. It's like watching a live-action comic book. The
film may have too high a body count and seem somewhat relentless, but it's always top-notch in every other department. "Air Force One" is the mediocre, senseless, exploitative action picture with little to remind us of the great
Harrison Ford films of the past. "Face/Off" shows that some imagination can still spill into your local multiplex from an accomplished director. The choice is ultimately yours.

Root for the Underdog

 MYSTERY, ALASKA (1999)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Sports movies are not my favorite genre, though I have admired movies like "Rocky," "Raging Bull," "Tin Cup" and "Hoosiers," to name a few. "Mystery, Alaska" focuses on ice hockey, which is hardly a sport I can stand watching (and I am partly Canadian) yet it won me over. This is a dramatic, offbeat kind of comedy-drama that aims high with an unusual set of characters and an uplifting enough story to rise above its cliches.

Set in the fictional town of Mystery, Russell Crowe is John Biebe, the local sheriff who is something of a local hockey hero. Unfortunately, his hockey team is letting him go and making him coach to make room for a teenage player with the right stuff. John's ego is hurt but he goes along with it. His wife, Donna (Mary McCormack), supports him yet feels his pain. And just in the nick of time comes an announcement that the NHL is sending the New York Rangers to play an exhibition game with this Alaskan team. The problem is that the team only plays on Saturdays and insist on playing in a black pond of ice! The NHL and the Rangers see it differently, as does eager promoter Charles Danner
(Hank Azaria), a former Mystery resident who gave the Mystery team glowing reviews on a Sports Illustrated issue.

"Mystery, Alaska" juggles a few characters around such as Charles Danners' pining for John's wife; the local attorney (Maury Chaykin) who deals with a big shot retail owner (Michael McKean, always a
pleasure to see); Burt Reynolds as the local Judge Burns who hates the game and hates his son for playing it; another hotshot player (Ron Eldard) who has nothing better to do than to play hockey and have sex, including having an affair with the mayor's wife (Lolita Davidovich), and Mystery's mayor (Colm Meaney) who wants nothing more than to expose their little town to the big hockey leagues.

"Mystery, Alaska" is a charming, inoffensive picture with enough humor and pathos to make it special. All these actors are some of my favorites so to see them on screen is a pure delight. Russell Crowe
plays one of the looser characters of his career, not the glum variety of post-"Gladiator" period, and he has a special chemistry with McCormack. Also worth noting is Hank Azaria who is so full of life
playing a sports promoter that you are ready to play along with whatever he pitches. And what a pleasure to see Burt Reynolds at his understated best, throwing asides with the ease of a real actor who
doesn't have to do much to sell a scene. If he had more colorful roles like this one, Burt might have really recharged his career in this post-"Boogie Nights" period. Only Maury Chaykin's attorney character leaves something to be desired, and I would've like more screen time for my favorite Spinal Tap member but that is just me.

"Mystery, Alaska" waxes on praise and pride for the underdogs, and resentment and pure vitriol for anything too commercial or mainstream that intrudes on small-town values. When the big game arrives at the climax (and I will not dare spoil who the winner is), the town's residents on the bleachers read the newspapers as the Rangers make their entrance on the ice. The Mystery residents welcome the chance to play with a national team and yet detest them at the same time. Same with the retail chain that almost opens in their town - anything commercial is outlawed. It's that kind of old-fashioned small-town
movie that may leave you feeling very satisfied.

Billions and Billions of calories

SUPER SIZE ME (2004)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia  

It is obvious that feeding yourself nothing but McDonald's hamburgers for one month would make one sick - it would me make quite sick. Try consuming such meals three times a day and watch how it affects your diet. Documentarian Morgan Spurlock attempts just that and his results are unsurprising and entertaining.

So Morgan Spurlock checks himself with doctors and fitness trainers to be sure he is in fine health before embarking on a junk food diet. It turns out his health is fine, his blood pressure is normal and he can now disavow his vegan ways. So the first day, Spurlock eats a Super Size meal for breakfast, and let us say that the results are not surprising - he starts to vomit outside his car window. Super
Size french fries, Super Size soda drink, Super Size cheeseburger and much more follow, leading to a gain in weight, headaches, more vomiting, lack of sex drive, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, lethargy, etc. Along the way, we learn about the high calorie content in these processed foods, salt content, saturated fats and that these nutritional contents are hidden in almost every McDonald's
restaurant. We also learn that ordering a smaller size of fries or burger value meals is still more food than should be consumed for the same size (unless you order a one-dollar cheeseburger). So here's the outstanding shocker of Spurlock's fast food diet - he consumes as much as 5,000 calories a day! As the doctors and nutritionists tell him, you keep punishing your body as such and you'll die.

So the corporations do not reveal the calorie, sodium and saturated fat amount of a typical McDonald's menu, unlike other restaurants - they obscure those details. What is the reason? To be sure there is a fat population out there? Well, does one believe that a person on an Atkins diet will frequent McDonald's? And for those who love their junk food, do you think they only go to McDonald's? What about Kentucky Fried Chicken, Burger King, Wendy's and a host of others? And does one forget that there are Gourmet McDonald's stores out there that serve fresh Bucks County Coffee?

I enjoyed "Super Size Me" overall but I felt it was wanting. The suggestion is that eating three meals a day of McDonald's is unhealthy - it may be but how many people do you know that do such a thing? Spurlock proves it is a disaster waiting to happen. Curiously, he grows addicted to the food to the point that he becomes immune to the initial indigestion - like any addiction.

It is certainly a step down from his vegetarian ways. What is the point Spurlock is trying to make with "Super Size Me"? I believe he is saying that people should eat responsibly, educate themselves and become health-conscious and learn the meaning of the following term: moderation. Spurlock
could've done likewise. 

Russell's Snowbanks of tragedy

THE SWEET HEREAFTER (1997)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Original Review from 1997

 Canadian director Atom Egoyan is one of the few true visionaries in the film world today. He consistently deals in themes of forbidden desires, melancholy loss, murder, and mourning. "The Adjuster" and the excellent "Exotica" are rare examples of films that break through the facade of cheap sentimentality and aim to reveal our innermost secrets and desires. Egoyan's new film "The
Sweet Hereafter," an adaptation of a Russell Banks novel, is a hauntingly expressive work about a school bus accident that leaves a small town in despair.

The brilliant Ian Holm stars as Mitchell Stevens, a forlorn attorney journeying to a small town in the snowy hills of British Columbia to represent the parents of children killed in a school bus accident. He wants to represent their grief, and looks to recompense by filing a class-action suit against the
bus company. "There is no such thing as an accident," declares Mitchell. At first glance, he might seem like a cold-hearted lawyer in it for the money but we start to see a man - tortured by his own suppressed grief - coming to terms with the tragedy and its aftermath. Mitchell's grief is his loveless junkie daughter who frequently calls him for money on his cell phone.

Naturally, the townspeople's grief is of greater consequence. There's the hippie couple whose adopted son died in the accident; another parent (Bruce Greenwood) who followed the bus carrying his two children and is the only witness; the guilt-ridden bus driver (Gabrielle Rose), and, most memorably, a
teenager (Sarah Polley) who survived the accident and is confined to a wheelchair and has strong love ties to her father (droopy-eyed Tom McCamus). The Greenwood character tries to convince Mitchell and the devastated parents to drop the lawsuit, but the some of the parents need the money if they win the case.

All the characters in "The Sweet Hereafter" are flawed and despondent because of familial relations except for the surviving teenager. In many ways, she is the most mature character in the film because she sees past the facade of the lawsuit and doesn't want to be manipulated by anyone, not even her affectionate father. Mitchell sees himself as a grieving parent because he lost his own child. When
Mitchell is on the plane, he sees a former friend of his daughter's and he confides in her about his daughter's past accidents with clinics and hospitals. Mitchell is naturally empathetic when interviewing the grieving, guilty parents about certain details of the accident - he's a guilty parent, too, trying to
erase the memory of his own daughter.

"The Sweet Hereafter" is an understated, chilling film of great searing power, and the actors certainly lend it credence. Ian Holm, one of the finest actors in the world, manages to make Mitchell Stevens a sympathetic character who's eagerly trying to erase his suppressed feelings towards his daughter - the
lawsuit makes him start to care deeply about her. It is superb, finely tuned acting that should have gained him an Oscar nomination. Sarah Polley ("Exotica") is as mysterious and alluring a young actress as any other - she makes her teen character both ambiguous and benevolent (she reads "The Pied
Piper" to children) allowing us to see a gradual connection between the relationship with her father and the school bus tragedy. These are characters whom you will not likely forget.

Director Atom Egoyan and cinematographer Paul Sarossy successfully make the wintry Canadian landscape as threatening and haunting as possible. The depiction of the townspeople's dwellings is just as disturbing - we see drab candlelit houses; gloomy motel rooms, and pictures of children and families on walls that take own a life of their own. The actual school bus accident is ominously presented in one long take as it skids off the road and falls into a frozen lake - this whole sequence, shown towards the middle of the film, is as tragic and emotional as anything in "Titanic."

The writing by Egoyan cleverly and astutely takes us back and forth during the aftermath of the accident pinpointing minute details about the uneventful day, and revealing the identities of the townspeople and their fears, desires and secrets.

Perhaps "The Sweet Hereafter" is not as enveloping or as rhythmic as "Exotica," but it is a superbly realized, unsentimental, poetic and important film of how a tragedy can change a small town. By the end of the film, with its sense of emotional chaos, you might think, strangely enough, that the
townspeople are responsible for this tragedy.

Curiously remote Sarah Polley

 MY LIFE WITHOUT ME (2003)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

There is a moment in "My Life Without Me" where Sarah Polley's character makes tape recordings for her daughters. You see Polley's character, Ann, is dying of ovarian cancer and she wants to make a voice recording for each of her daughters' birthdays until they are 18. I was waiting for a moment where Ann would ditch the idea, throw the tapes and the cassette recorder into the nearest river, and admit to herself that she is dying and finally admit it to her family. Well, the whole movie makes you ask such questions about Ann and why she doesn't do this instead of that. It becomes irritating.

Let's focus on Ann's character more closely. She is a 23-year-old woman, married to her first love whom she met at a Nirvana concert, has two daughters, has a janitorial job at the local university, and lives with her family in a trailer outside her mother's house. One fine day, after fainting in her
kitchen, Ann learns at the hospital, from a doctor who makes no eye contact, that she has incurable ovarian cancer. Unfortunately, due to her age, her cells are too young to fight the disease. Instead of letting her family know of her inevitable death, she keeps it to herself, claiming she has anemia, and starts to make a list of things to do. One of the things includes making love to a man outside her husband (and making this unlucky fool fall in love with her), finding a woman for her husband and her kids (no points for those who can guess her name will also be Ann) and, among other objectives, making those damn tapes for each and every person in her life.

I could have lived with knowing more about Ann's mother (Deborah Harry), a washed-out baker, Ann's boyfriend Don (Scott Speedman) who is getting a new job and loves his wife and kids, and Lee (Mark Ruffalo), the lonely guy who lives in a house with no furniture. This would have made for a great character piece, having these three characters interact with Ann. But no, we also get the
next-door neighbor, the hairdresser with braids (Maria de Medeiros) and Ann's co-worker (Amanda Plummer) who is always talking about diets. There is also small talk revolving around Milli Vanilli and the Nirvana band. Some of this is terminally annoying, some of it is as flat as a flatline. And we keep hearing Ann talking about herself and to herself...she is a selfish woman who should be worried more about her family and their future than her own needs. A better movie would show Ann focusing on why this has happened to her, questioning her own life and her past. The movie gives a hint of this from her multiple voice-overs but not nearly enough.

Sarah Polley, a gifted actress, is perfect as Ann but she doesn't play the character as someone frightened or saddened by the prospect of death - she sort of accepts it (like a middle-aged adult would) and moves on. The last thing I expect from this actress is to play a character who is so curiously remote from
her feelings. At least, her final scene with Ruffalo shows the emotion we expect from an actress with such striking eyes (to be fair, she has a couple of tearful scenes).

"My Life Without Me" is the kind of film that grates the nerves and makes you look at your watch. You keep waiting for Ann to realize that her objectives are foolhardy. After a while, you just hope she will go away. Sorry, Sarah Polley, if you read this review, remember, I love your work. I just don't love this
character.

Anything Goes

 THIRTEEN (2003)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

The opening moments of "Thirteen" may cause audience walkouts or, in this case, DVD walkouts. A close-up of a stoned girl is seen as the camera gently sways vertically. Suddenly, we realize she is sitting on her bed and is breathing in gas from a can of compressed air and sharing it with another girl. Then they ask to be slapped and punched across the face, and they enjoy it. In just those few moments, "Thirteen" encapsulates everything that we may think teenagers are about - they enjoy violence and laugh at it. Their attitude is anything goes, as long as they don't get caught, or if they get caught red-handed, they will deny it.

The leading troubled girl is Tracy (Evan Rachel Wood), a straight A-student who loves to write poetry. She lives with her mother, Melanie (Holly Hunter), and her brother. Melanie runs a beauty salon from her kitchen (!) but it is barely enough to pay for their house rent. Occasionally, Melanie's boyfriend (Jeremy Sisto) stays over if he is not at the halfway house. Home is not grand but it is not hell either. Then one day, Tracy is overwhelmed when she sees a few girls led by Evie (Nikki Reed) get ogled by guys and watches them all storm off like a locust. Tracy wants to be a part of that world, she wants to be liked and to be popular. Before you can say that we entered the high-school world of John Hughes, Tracy starts hanging out with Evie. They become best friends, they indulge in drugs, sex, robbing clothing stores, partying, etc. Eventually Evie moves in with Tracy after Evie convinces Melanie of a familial tragedy. What can a mother do but be sympathetic to a 13-year-old?

But it is Tracy who starts to come apart. Her school grades plummet and sometimes she doesn't bother showing up for class (the fact that she may have to repeat a grade surprises her). She becomes more unsatisfied with her home life particularly her father's absence and her mother's boyfriend, who is
trying to be helpful. Tracy stars to cut her arm with a razor blade, just enough to let go of the pain she feels. Meanwhile, Evie starts stealing from Tracy and her mother. The lies and deceit mount, as does the drug-taking. 

"Thirteen" is tough and uncompromising to be sure, but something is askew in the depiction of Tracy's character. For one, I understand Tracy's need to cling to something, to be part of a clique. I also understand the co-dependency of Tracy to Evie and vice-versa. But for Tracy to be unhappy of her home life when she seems to love her mother feels untrue, especially to the point of mutilating her forearms (she used to cut her wrists). Call me a naive adult who has never suffered to such an extent as a teenager, but I hardly believed that Tracy's own ill-will and lack of self-image comes from an absent father. I imagine it would realistically (the screenplay was written by Nikki Reed based on actual experiences), but consider the girl we see before this wicked transformation takes place - she never seemed mad at anyone until she met Evie. It is like Evie drove Tracy to madness.

Most of "Thirteen" is shot with a hand-held digital camera, but the director Catherine Hardwicke should have told her cameraman that not every scene needs to be as wavy as a tsunami. Though I liked the icy blue-green look of the last half of the film, some stable camera shots could have been put in place. We do not need to be disoriented every second when the main character isn't always disoriented (and make no mistake, the film is told from Tracy's subjective point-of-view).

The performances are outstanding overall. Evan Rachel Wood and Nikki Reed are completely credible as the co-dependent teenagers who look for anything wild to do as an experiment, including kissing each other. Most notable are the mothers in the film, including Holly Hunter who is mostly mortified at her daughter's behavior. Hunter does have a nude scene with her boyfriend that is likely to
cause more flinching than anything else in the film. The other mother, Brooke (Deborah Kara Unger) may or may not be Evie's real mother but she is not the best guardian for Evie - no wonder Evie leaves her. Both Hunter and Unger get credit for playing the most unglamorous female characters of their respective careers.

"Thirteen" has moments of raw honesty and paints a fairly bleak picture of teen life. The ending is a powerhouse delivering an emotional catharsis unlike any seen in any teen film in recent memory. I just wish Tracy had been a more rounded, full bodied character so we could understand the pain she feels. But if this is what it is like to be thirteen in the 21st century, then I suppose I should be counting my blessings.