Hierarchy (2009) User Reviews

Arching higher!

[ajji-2 · 7/10 · 28 August 2009]

Ambitious, complex project from a guy infamous for his more slam-bang action epics of the extended (indeed, never-ending) shootouts variety. Fredianelli is not only improving his skill as a filmmaker with each new film, but also broadening his horizons, it seems. It could've all gone horribly wrong; a multi-character, multi-problem drama with all the elements that could easily push this into soap opera territory. Kudos to our guy for not letting that happen. Aside from a few missteps, this is powerful and intelligent material. The sex scene right at the beginning seems a bit gratuitous, but in light of the character arc we're following, it kinda fits in. The dialogue is mostly true-to-life, but at times veers towards corny. Performances are generally strong, with everyone doing justice to their roles, with a few standouts along the way (the face-off with Rust Meyers' agent being a delight). It is heartening to see more and more 'professional' actors appearing in WD films. Also, it was good to see some humour interspersed with the generally melancholy tone. However, a missed opportunity was when a bimbo starlet says to our Hollywood producer that she's "got an ass like Jessica Biel's. Can you do something with it?" while shoving her butt his way. That scene was begging for the guy to "do something" to/with her butt and add a witty remark!

Another memorable scene is the Shakespearian rehearsal. Mike really lets loose with the improv, but due to his inability to stretch his mouth to, say, Gerard Butler levels, he ends up lisping a lot (that must've been one spit-soaked set!), which makes the scene even more entertaining. Man, it reminded me of Bill the cat from Bloom County in all his "thpppppt!" vocabulary.

As for the much talked-about third act, I didn't really find it out of place, let alone out of left field (or at least a lot less so than the afore-mentioned excursion with Molinee Green). The ending of it all could've been better, though. Another thing I felt was that the gay character was too obviously so from the second he appeared. It seemed to be a stereotype out of a sketch from SNL or something. This would've been fine in Higgy & Puffs territory, but this otherwise accomplished drama demanded a bit more depth. And the scenes between his wife and her lover could've done with a bit more heat (especially in comparison to the first - and only - sex scene in the film), it was hard to imagine why these two would've got together. I could've also done without the excruciating songs, but maybe that was Mike's way of poking fun of those 'swishy' singer/songwriters of the mushy/romantic variety. And finally, a technical gaff: what's with the shadow of the boom mike where the two women are walking along the street? Surely, somebody must've noticed it? !?

Those minor criticisms aside, this is a solid piece of work from Mike Fredianelli, and I hope to see even better stuff from him in the future.

Interesting, if flawed drama with some amazing standout scenes/performances.

[Pycal · 7/10 · 13 April 2009]

After the brilliant 'Xenobites', I have to admit that I craved to see plenty of squibs and five hour shootouts from the Wild Dogs label. However when I heard about Hierarchy, I can't say I wasn't excited. In fact, I had high expectations for this film especially considering the few professional actors involved (Brett Halsey, Rusty Meyers, and Robert Amstler), not to mention a cameo by porn star Molinee Green. Overall, the film is quite enjoyable though not as overly entertaining as 'A Bird in the Bush' or 'Xenobites'.

Split up into three different stories, Hierarchy tells the tale of a washed up boxer, an up-and-coming writer, and a struggling businessman. I have to say the screenwriter segment is my favorite solely for the scenes with Jeff (and I'm not just kissing Fredianelli's ass by saying it, but these are truly the best scenes in the movie). The best scene in this segment has to be Jeff's confrontation with Rusty Meyers. Meyers gives a great performance and has by far the best dialog in the movie. That said, other classic scenes include a hilarious Shakespeare monologue rehearsal, Molinee Green's cameo (for obvious reasons), and a scene featuring Brett Halsey as a Catholic priest. Halsey's scene is near perfect save for the whole "you people" exchange that I've heard used about 5670091 times (most notably in the 'Tropic Thunder' trailer).

Overall Hierarchy is a good film. My only real complaint are that some scenes (especially those with the three lead actresses) felt a little cheesy at times, almost bordering on chick flick/soap opera territory. I did find the ending somewhat disappointing, though I figured it was supposed to be. Still, I wish the film was a little more satisfying.

You can't never go home again.

[KingM21 · 8/10 · 19 March 2010]

Truth be told, I wasn't in any big hurry to watch Hierarchy, a straight-forward character drama helmed by "Bloody" Mike Fredianelli. Oh, he's successfully dabbled with this kind of material before but it's always been supplemented with guns, gangsters, and guidos. Furthermore, such artsy/indie productions which attempt to explore the human condition have enormous potential for embarrassing failure, like the notoriously bad A Decision to Ask Why, resulting in a most pretentious and dull experience. Hierarchy doesn't quite steer clear of all those trappings (a reoccurring character in the form of a grotesque beach bum certainly means to convey some kind of sweeping critique on the film's themes…I'm sure I'll find it quite poignant and perhaps even weep at finally discovering what it is) but for the majority, the characters actually develop into real people, free (mostly) from unconvincing cinematic sentimentality, and without even realizing it, I felt drawn into their conflicted lives. I couldn't directly relate to any of their individual situations but their anger, guilt, depression, and doubt are universal feelings, and the full-layered characters are sure to hit home in some way with most viewers. In this sense, it's a pretty powerful motion picture.

Fredianelli wisely realizes that with a mature ensemble piece, moments of brevity are still a necessity. Scenes such as his character's (a mid-level movie producer named Jeff) highly theatrical lisping of a Shakespeare passage or the threatening Schwarzeneggerian priest will certainly bring smiles to the faces of everyone watching. And being a longtime fan of Wild Dogs cinema, I appreciated some of the subtler touches too, like the brief zoom on a passing 'geriatric in the wild' during a scene filmed at a park.

The success of Hierarchy heavily depended on the main cast (Fredianelli, Anthony Spears, Maggie VandenBerghe, Brian Gallegos, and Ronald Kaplan, who has a wonderful "old-time jazz" singing voice, on full display here), who were all up to task…they each turn in the convincing, naturalistic performances the film required. And the supporting cast is just as strong. Rusty Meyers, for example, is only in one scene (as a Hollywood studio head, he has it out with Jeff, and Jeff's integrity, over a script) but it's one of the film's most brilliant. Jeff's verbal duel of intimidation with Father Mulligan, played by Golden Globe winner Brett Halsey, was also quite noteworthy.

So, initial hesitations aside, I found Fredianelli's Hierarchy to be a thoughtful and very human film. Cheers to everyone involved.

Hierarchy

[jkelp90 · 4 July 2009]

Mr. Fredianelli surprised me with this unexpected work, which I liked a lot. There's none of the usual material that made former Fredianelli's works a success among his selected audience (no crazy car chases, no physical violence, no final shootouts…) and this is really brave. Besides, the film is not even a comedy (see: "Bird in a bush) but it is a serious attempt to look inside the lives and hearts of a small group of people. And it achieves most of it. The use of professional or semi professional actors made a big difference, to begin with: I really liked most of them, starting with Mr Spear who plays a troubled young man. They all give realistic performances, and most of the characters were complex too. Mr Fredianelli wears the clothes of a young executive producer who little by little turns from your average John Cusack rom-com dude to a three-dimensional bastard. The different stories are all equally interesting and you find yourself involved in the daily struggle of most of the characters, even the unpleasant ones. I like how the movie starts with a very dramatic note (a visit to a prostitute) and then turns into almost a comedy (the young, good looking writer and her debut in cinema) to leave all the predictable developments (read: romantic subplots) and follow the single persons' stories. Fredianelli tries to make the story (or should I say the stories?) "exemplar" by introducing the character of a hobo whose pathetic figure comes out here and there as a symbolic commentary. At some point our hobo (who, by the way, is not performed by Mr Stielstra) meets with Fredianelli's character: a brilliant idea. The most detestable character of the film is … but I don't want to spoil the film now so let's go to the small list of complaints. I would have done without the graphic sex scenes because they were not really useful: or maybe it's just because I'm an old woman, or maybe both. The catholic priest scene is very funny, well written and performed but, unfortunately, it's not at all realistic: I fear that Catholic Church has more complicated and subtle ways to explicate its power. The stories don't develop at the same pace: at some point we miss our hero for a long time. Technically the film is an incredible improvement on both sound and visuals: and also the musical selection is very accurate and intelligent (those romantic, old fashioned song at the end are just perfect). Too bad for the close ups and some conversation scenes that sometimes aren't as skillful and as "artistic" as one would expect, also considering the good acting. And… "Hierarchy" is a very good title: only I couldn't understand what it's got to do with the film. What I really liked in Mr Fredianelli's film was that, after watching it, I kept thinking about it and going back to certain scenes and dialogs. There's a lot of philosophical material, and I'm a sucker for that stuff as long as it's sincere and not pretentious. And this is another plus for this film: it's not pretentious at all. Just think about all the criticism against creative or supposedly creative people that comes out in the end: that was very brave too, considering that Mr. Fredianelli is a creative person himself. I really hope that Mr Fredianelli will make more films in this direction: more personal but also with an interesting look at some part of society. Bravo Mike!

Life Itself Is An Atrocity

[HughBennie-777 · 10 April 2009]

"Heirarchy" SPOILERS Michael Fredianelli has stuffed his multi-character study with plenty of themes. His on screen medley of teetering, lost souls contain so many self-absorbed social anxieties you could measure them alongside the high caliber ventilations of henchmen/ninjas/innocent school-children in his crime films. Not all of them work, but those that do are startling effective. We start off with a perfect opening: an unappetizing sex scene between the movie's most tragic character, a self-loathing boxer, and his hooker of choice. Things can only get worse, though we are curiously spared any footage of the guy losing any brutal fights. Through some nicely scripted introductions of the movie's remaining characters, we see similar struggles with existences drenched in varying forms of malaise and disappointment. Yet everybody mirrors one another to some degree in their equal discontent (or downright hatred) for life. Or humans. A fledgling author who (for some odd reason) wants to be an actress, a disgruntled husband with homosexual secrets--these amplified by the actor's Matt Houston moustache--a petulant father figure who juggles his children's emotional demands, and a marginally successful movie producer, who sacrifices dignity in place of the pre-production on a Tom Hanks movie, are joined by an enigmatic, impressively lipped homeless man, who staggers through various scenes like a Player from "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern"--though his wardrobe reflects the more hobo-chic look popular these days: sport coat, jeans, and flip-flops. The plots don't attempt to intertwine, running parallel to one another, thus sparing me any Paul T. Anderson-aping-Robert Altman gymnastics. I prefer this route any day, especially as great movies like "Gomorrah" refuse to resolve stories, tying velvet ribbons around their characters (or worse, regurgitating falsely balanced narratives, like something out of Paul Haggis' bottom).

Movie's dialogue is hilarious at times, whether it be a muttering boxing coach delivering a rant about Kathy Bates' neck, or a slimy yuppie celebrating his imperviousness to feelings: "I hate self-loathing, and that's what makes me invincible." The majority of the performances are mature and carry a naturalness with minimal t.v editing intrusions (no over-the-shoulder cutting, though I heard Wild Dogs had to make unthinkable compensations for some unprofessional actors). Anthony Spears is impressive as the troubled athlete who is forced to live with two annoying twenty-somethings, one of whom seems to think his Caucaso-Anime' look qualifies him to do a bad John Savage impersonation. Spears has a deeply damaged pair of eyes that work well for him, especially in places where his self-pitying dialogue might have been better thinned. Though only a cameo, the historic Montgomery Ford is fantastic as a solemn priest, bringing a James Garner-esquire physicality to his role ("I don't negotiate with Philistines!"). This is further enhanced by his buffed-out Austrian sidekick. These moments of comedy are far more effective than the bigger (and louder) scenes of human conflict, like a swollen Rusty James' Hollywood agent, who spews moronic, hit-or-miss profanity and insults like R. Lee Earmy's pontifications in "Full Metal Jacket". Other honorable mentions go to Michael Fredianeli, who brings a spike of sympathy to his role as the producer. His Shakespearean outburst is a plus, as his compulsive smiling, which often accompanies the scumbag character's blatant dishonesty. His monologue about a person's "work" equaling their "worth" is sold extremely well by Fredianelli's convicted performance. The brunette actresses are all good, the blondies not so. Or Ronald Kaplan, for that matter. The often dissonant crooning was likely added to provide some sort of color to his character, but it's almost as trying as the man's reactions to his children's' invasion of his home: an emotional fit more becoming of a party-host suddenly realizing his guests have brought the wrong wine.

And now, the third act. It comes not so much out of left field, but completely from out of the ballpark. The inter-racial element I found surprisingly effective, and a risk, but to withhold the reveal until the end is almost throwing the audience an M. Night Shairmalairm hanger without any background on the characters at all--which this movie does so well in it's prior hour and a half. To add insult to injury, the following despairing discussions, suicidal confessions, duets of sobbing, etc. had me appreciating the film-maker's intentions, but regretting that they were so restricted to what felt like another movie altogether. And a short movie. Undoubtedly, "DTCTAW" is a film that dangerously influenced the spawning of of this one, and it could never aspire to such a dramatic denouement. Still, I was prepared for a slam-bang finale with emotional fireworks as exciting as Fredianelli's outstanding smash-zoom that takes place during the movie's gay porn scene*. I don't want to make suggestions, because that's a sign of an obnoxious critic. But a movie so committed to vivid character details, like the author bringing Shakespeare to read for audition material(!), is only going to suffer from a climax which asks its complex to characters to, basically, "talk things out". Even the resultant suicide is deflated.

Finally, this movie has a lot to recommend it. A "Cruising" montage is a festive highlight, and the movie's palette of locations is exciting, as is the decent photography and only ONE sound complaint: eerily familiar traffic sounds during the hobo scenes. I still remain confused about the movie's actual setting. For all the flashes of Nob Hill, North Beach, West Hollywood, and what looks like the Fillmore District, I had a hard time telling if we were in San Francisco or Los Angeles.

*Stelvio Massi would have been, er, proud.