Style+Substance=Manhunter

Manhunter(1986)dir. Michael Mann

William Petersen, Brian Cox, Joan Allen

So, can style and substance coexist in a film? Yeah, maybe. Michael Mann's Manhunter, the original Red Dragon, is a ridiculously visual film. Every shot is framed to perfection.

Our shepard through the film is Will Graham, a beleaguered former FBI agent pressured into tracking down a killer. William Petersen basically rocked my world in this movie. He's sublimely illustrates the weight of Graham's past. There's quite allot of spoken interior monologues, illustrating Graham's dissection of the killer's motives. But I bought it, completely preferable to a voice over in the same circumstance. It's nice to see a psychologically scarred anti-hero.

A fantastic scene is when Graham visits Lecktor to "recover the mindset". We first see Lecktor in an antiseptic, quite clinical white cell antipodal from Lector's(the spelling is different in the two films) dingy cell in Silence of the Lambs. Cox's Lecktor comes off quite calm and unaffected at home in his clinical setting. The claustrophobic setting does the opposite for Graham, he flees the detention center running down a series of ramps, instantly reminding me of the Guggenheim. I've come to find out that this scene was filmed at The High Museum of Art in Atlanta. Seriously who would think to use this for a prison set?

There is so much more I could discuss; the lunar cycles relationship to Graham's blue bathed home life, the use of mirrors and reflections, flashlights etc...but you kids will need to check it out for yourselves.

Revolutionary Road

Revolutionary Road (2008) dir. Sam Mendes

Starring: Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio,

Michael Shannon, Kathy Bates

There are some movies that even before they are seen, spark the imagination and hold a place in our head space for a while. Inspired by the imagery, the meaty subject matter and Titanic reunion. I too was awaiting Revolutionary Road with baited breath. The stars had aligned.

My baited breath was met with an arduous film with few light points. We meet Frank and April Wheeler amidst marital conflict. They've come to a crossroads of sorts, though April is driven to action while Frank seems complacent. Stylistically we are given a Hopperesque understanding of the facelessness of the period. April's action comes in the form of a plan to move the family to Paris in hopes of leading a more cultured and fulfilled existence. Without knowledge of the book, and having seen a couple of publicity shots on a beach, I believed that they made it there. So, I felt April's pain when it all starts to unravel.

Winslet and DiCaprio's formidable pairing is punctuated by a standout supporting cast. Zoe Kazan gives a nuanced performance as the nubile secretary Maureen Grube. After her liaison with Frank, there is a wonderful moment where we see Maureen trying to adopt a bit of a sexier more mature persona. It's only done with a few subtle movements but, it is conveyed very effectively. Shannon's performance is a bit more forthright. It is through his character's brutal honesty that forces the Wheller's to face their own truths. For some fun check out Shannon's turn as Dundun in "Jesus's Son". I was a bit disappointed in the lack of screen time for the children. If the Wheeler's are steeped in the trappings of domesticity they're relationship would play a large role in our understanding of that.

Back to our formidable paring. Winslet's emotional restraint works in tandem to DiCaprio's venerability. Toward the end of the film, we are filled with the same confounded reactions to their arguments. I'm reminded of something Samuel Fuller says in "The Typewriter, The Rifle and The Camera" to paraphrase he speaks of every human being having a third face. A part of their persona that even those closest to them will never know. So like Frank, we will never know what drove April to the depths of her despair.

The Softer side of Kiefer Sutherland

With the onslaught of a new season of 24, I can't help but long for the softer side of Kiefer Sutherland. From roughly 88-92, Kiefer created a string of characters with a decidedly softer edge. The dishwater brown precise cut, gave way to long, floppy blond locks. Before harsh staccato tones, there were tranquil whispers of poetry. But seriously folks, you must check out some of Kiefer's softer fare including:

Young Guns
1969 with a bonus Robert Downey Jr.
Promised Land
Flashback with Dennis Hoppper
Article 99
The Vanishing(tell me Jack Bauer would have ever fallen for that one)
Enjoy a helping of Doc Scurlock below:

Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire (2008) dir. Danny Boyle

starring: Dev Patel, Irrfan Kahn, Freida Pinto

Beginning on the polished set of the Indian version of "Who wants to be a Millionaire" Slumdog, quickly subverts your expectations of what a film steeped in flashback could be. To the producers it seems improbable that this boy with no formal education could possibly gotten all the way to the final question. He is pulled in to be questioned by the police chief, Irrfan Kahn. An astute actor, Kahn always brings a quite truth to all his performances. We especially like his brief spot in "The Darjeeling Limited."

During the questioning we learn how Jamal's own life experiences provide him with these answers. Usually during multi-actor performed roles there is a disconnect. But not in Slumdog, the child actors performances blend seamlessly with Patel's. The dichotomy provided between the slick Millionaire set and the streets of Mumbai infuse the film with a frenetic energy that is hard to shake. It is this energy harnessed and focused by Boyle, which allows the audience to become invested in Jamal's fate. Through these gritty hyper realistic flashback experiences we too understand how the knowledge gleamed from these events is burned on Jamal's retina's for all eternity. In addition to the fantastic storytelling, we loved the bookmarking of Latika's final yellow scarf to her soiled childhood dress.