bemorecynical2001 Reviews

Two Lovers (2008)

What film-making should be--another seamless collaboration of Gray and Phoenix

[10/10 · 13 February 2009]

As I watched, and enjoyed Two Lovers, it became clear why this was a limited release film, why early reviews predicted Hollywood wouldn't much know what to do with it. This is a mature, thoughtful, well-made, well-paced, and very well-acted film. And while I don't think that there aren't mature, thoughtful audiences out there, studios can sometimes not give them much credit. But as I watched Two Lovers it revealed itself as few modern movies do, the director, James Gray, is the guide but has an invisible touch. The story is simple but powerful in its reflection on love and choices, as guided by fate and impossibility.

Leonard (Joaquin Phoenix) is a young man in his early 30's who has moved in with his parents following a devastating broken engagement and a suicide attempt. His parents are concerned over his fragility and mental stability (there are whisperings of depression and possibly bi-polar disorder) and encourage his involvement with family friend Sandra (Vinessa Shaw) a young woman more than willing to "take care of him." But when Leonard meets Michelle (Gwyneth Paltrow), his neighbor across the courtyard, he soon becomes smitten with the fun, enticing blonde. As both relationships progress and provide further complications (Michelle's other involvements, the business opportunities a life with Sandra will provide) a simply put but tremendously complex question is posed: do you choose the one you love or the one who loves you?

Like Gray's past films, notably The Yards and We Own the night for this viewer who has yet to see Little Odessa, this doesn't fashion a predictable run. Some filmmakers may have leaned towards a more typical romance, with clear-cut characters, a couple to root for and a happy ending. Like his past films, Gray's characters feel real, flawed, whose actions yield personal consequences. Its ending will leave some viewers inferring a hopeful conclusion, others a tragic one. The story was moving, at times funny, at times profound, and deeply affecting.

Of course, it's impossible to praise the film without focusing on Joaquin Phoenix's performance. Given Gray's propensity to write for him, their mutual praise, and the phenomenal portrayals that result, one can only deduce that this was a pairing fated to happen. Gray knows how to write human, imperfect, complicated, conflicting lead roles and equally or perhaps more importantly, Phoenix knows how to bring them to life. His Leonard is sometimes a sad, tragic figure but at turns can fill the screen with so much light and so much charisma you almost wonder, for a moment, why there aren't more than two women chasing after this troubled young man who lives with his parents. In a scene in a car with Michelle and her friends leading into a surprisingly sexy dance scene in a club, Phoenix's boyish, natural charm wins the women over in impressively little time. Leonard also is a bit socially awkward, playful, but clumsy and seemingly out of place with the world, Joaquin plays this wonderfully and very believably, but it did inspire a reaction from my viewing mate that I found rather entertaining. She remarked that Joaquin is so handsome and has such a stunning, intense look, that to see him play a bit of a socially inept, goofy character didn't suit his looks. She may have a point, in that his looks seem more suited to his We Own the Night character--confident, cool. But nothing could detract from his performance here. He is certainly the heart of the film, and adds a quietness and depth to Leonard that made me eager for future viewings. And to add something that stands out to me here, there is something so genuine about Phoenix's emotional, crying scenes that it catches me off guard and seems to within instant make so many other actors' "crying" scenes seem like artifice. Perhaps it's a further glean into his gift as an actor, but something so tender is revealed in these moments, it brings great humanity to those scenes.

The rest of the cast does very well. This is Gwyneth's best work in years, perhaps her best role as well, she doesn't disappoint. Shaw's beauty is toned down, which helps in making her less of a stunner and more a nice-looking local girl who's instantly attracted to Leonard's shy charm. Both Moni Moshonov and Isabella Rossellini, as Leonard's parents, are great opposite Phoenix, the three share a believable comfort with each other.

Two Lovers is a great character-driven drama centering on a troubled young man's impossible choice to either try for a life he never knew he could have, or the one he feels he's intended to have. This is elegant film-making with moving drama, a great cast, and another masterful performance from Phoenix, again completely in-sync with Gray's storytelling. Theirs is a seamless collaboration.

Reservation Road (2007)

A provocative Road to take

[10/10 · 9 April 2008]

A full six months after Reservation Road was supposed to release in theaters (it did, only in a very quiet handful), the film is finally, and again, very quietly put out on DVD. I had been looking forward to this film for some time and had been shocked by it's ill-treatment from Focus Features. After receiving it from Netflix and viewing it, I went out the very next day to purchase it. Where I was expecting a slow, wrenching exploration of grief and loss, this film actually surprised me with an untold amount of suspense and thrills. It certainly is not a "thriller" perhaps, but where the story goes and how these characters react leaves you on edge in several instances where you're not only unsure of what they will do next, but you're not sure what you would do next.

I had read a lot about this movie before seeing it, so there were some reveals that I already knew about from my own curiosity as well as some misguided choices in what is shown in the trailer. I would have liked to see it fresh, so I will give plot points sparingly. Ethan and Grace Lerner (Joaquin Phoenix and Jennifer Connelly, respectively) are a well-to-do couple living in an affluent Connecticut town who lose a child in a hit and run accident. Dwight Arno (Mark Ruffalo) is speeding home to deliver his young son to his ex-wife (Mira Sorvino) and leaves the scene. The unfolding story effectively explores how the Lerner family struggles to cope with an unimaginable loss to an unknown perpetrator, and how Dwight wrestles with his fragile conscience while trying to hide his crime from the authorities. I think it works better to not know how Ethan and Dwight meet and proceed to dance around this event, but when they do, is when the real enjoyment of this film begins.

Sorvino does a fine job, and Connelly, in a larger and more difficult role, does a very good job, but this film belongs to the male leads. Ruffalo is great playing a seemingly decent man who commits a heinous crime he desperately tries to hide. This is Ruffalo's best work to date and if this film had been appropriately marketed and acknowledged, it would have been a breakout for him.

As our main lead, Phoenix is just wonderful. Ethan is a devoted husband and father whose world suddenly ceases to make sense following this tragedy and seeing him pull away from his family as he gets lost in his depths of grief and fanatical in his quest to find the killer gives Phoenix room to further display his remarkable range. An actor who is blessed with naturalness and unbridled by affectations and shortcut tendencies, his portrayal of a man eaten away by unspeakable sorrow and incalculable rage is harrowing. There is a confrontation scene late in the film when Ethan is so incensed he's physically shaking, his words come out as a jumbled growl, and it's startling to witness. Seeing Phoenix actually show that level of anger makes you wonder how or what he did to get to this place. That I can't know, but I do know that it's terrifying to see this man come undone from the inside out.

Reservation Road is sad, but it doesn't wallow in a way that feels exploitive or cheap. It's a dual journey into one man's struggle to deal with a tragedy that feels beyond him, and the cowardice and humanity of a hunted man dogged by his own shaken ethics. This is a provocative, moving story that really deserves to be seen.

We Own the Night (2007)

This film deserves to own one or two of your nights

[10/10 · 12 October 2007]

James Gray's work here as writer-director has come leaps and bounds from his previous film The Yards, released in 2000. With We Own the Night, he crafts a fantastic story with a style set apart from current films. Perhaps not designed for audiences that fear classical storytelling, this film is refreshingly not reminiscent of the music videos/video games that are being packaged as movies. Gray has likened it to a Greek tragedy in its scope, where something far more devastating than predictability awaits. After a much discussed sex scene that manages to be risqué and sexy without going too far for tame audiences, the story really develops beautifully, exceeding my (already high) expectations. I'm looking forward to seeing it for a second time in theaters as I have a feeling that this one only improves with multiple viewings.

Gray creates real mood in several particularly excellent scenes. Two in particular, the drug house and car chase are so well constructed, and so well filmed. They build tension inconspicuously, they creep up on you to where you barely notice that you've started breathing harder. And the choice of composition and sound effects never feels overdone or out of place. It serves as a compliment to the suspense rather than the source. At times the effect almost sounds throbbingly ultrasonic. It adds palpability to scenes without overpowering them--something all too common today.

Of particular mention is Gray's use of hallways as set pieces. There are three different hallways used at different intervals in the film that are wonderfully atmospheric (as coupled with haunting audio and skillful direction) and indicative of a passage into the unknown. The last--Bobby walking down the corridor into blackness is both terrifying in its context and foretelling of the symbolic darkness he's entering in his life.

As for the cast, Joaquin Phoenix is (again) the heart, soul, and center of the film. Smartly given the main role, his weight, conviction and charisma easily stand out here. Conversely, Mark Wahlberg contributes little and provides the same fairly one-note performance we've seen before from him. But perhaps aided by their previous working relationship and off-screen friendship, he and Phoenix share enough believable chemistry to make their complicated relationship feel real. Duvall does fine work as their father, we've seen him better but I enjoyed the tension between his character and Phoenix's black sheep of the family. Eva Mendes is unobjectionable as well. Actually the relationship between Bobby (Phoenix) and Amada (Mendes) is perhaps the most touching and poignant in the film and Mendes is in no way a disappointment or distraction. More than just the girlfriend of a charismatic man, we believe in the relationship between Amada and Bobby, which makes the evolution of that relationship all the more resonant by film's end.

But, this is Phoenix's film. At his worst (if you can call it that) he's reminiscent of a young and passionate Al Pacino, and at his best, there is no one comparable. Phoenix takes this role and makes it heartbreaking, shading Bobby with sympathy and complexity. There are several scenes in which his reactions are stunning in their realism. A scene in a diner in which Bobby knows more than he can let on to a Russian drug dealer, Phoenix juggles a reflection of both inner and outer conflict that is revelatory in its subtlety--and he does it all with his face and eyes. He seems an old hand at the dreaded and difficult character arc, so his masterful work there is no surprise. What is surprising is that you instantly forget ever seeing him in anything before. When you watch We Own the Night, you can't see Joaquin Phoenix and you don't see any character he has previously played. His style, presence, manner, behavior and the feeling he projects has never been seen before. This is Phoenix as we've never seen him. And that is every bit as exciting as it sounds.

As a final comment on the film-making, the very last scene is a dream in its power and simplicity. Though some viewers may be used to something showier, it is about as perfect a final moment as I could have hoped for. As far as Joaquin Phoenix goes, the man just keeps getting better. Apparently so does James Gray.

Walk the Line (2005)

Phoenix Walks the Line into Film History.

[10/10 · 14 April 2007]

James Mangold's 2005 film about the early career of Johnny Cash and his enduring courtship of June Carter is a thoroughly entertaining, wholly involving film that bridges a rare gap in being both an introduction to a life lived and a real cinematic joy--a pleasure even on multiple viewings.

Clearly a labor of love and effort, Walk the Line was in production for roughly ten years before it was filmed, made by people who sought to tell an accurate story without ever losing respect for their subject.

Director James Mangold deserves a lot of credit for taking a tried and tired genre -the biopic- and creating a two hour plus film that never feels too long, too slow, or exploitive in any way. The musical sequences in particular, are fantastic. They are spaced out enough, and electrifying enough that whenever they start, you don't want them to end. Shot on stage behind or next to the actors as opposed to filmed from the audience's point of view, the numbers performed create a truly intimate and breathlessly exciting experience. When Joaquin Phoenix turns in profile and the camera swallows the spotlight's glare that has been illuminating him ---it raises the film above any preceding musical or biopic standard.

An immeasurable attribute to these sequences is that Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon (as June Carter) sang and played their instruments themselves. Both are impressive, but it is knowing that the voices are actually coming from the performers themselves, that makes the movie feel like a more impressive overall accomplishment.

Even with all of the other merits of Walk the Line, the movie would have certainly failed unless the right person was cast as the lead. Joaquin Phoenix is not only amazing in his singing and guitar playing (the actor lowered his voice several octaves to sing in Cash's key and learned guitar from scratch, playing in Cash's unique style), but the quality of his acting can simply not be overstated. While many rightfully remark on his musical accomplishments (His version of 'I Walk the Line' was recorded in all five keys, in one take--the pros don't even do that) his performance is an exquisite exercise in acting becoming art right before our eyes.

There is an acting adage: "If you can say it here (eyes) you don't need to say it here (mouth)." But few actors have ever really accomplished this. They go through the motions, saying lines and moving facial muscles. What is remarkable about Phoenix's performance is that when you watch his eyes, everything is reflected--from within. When June asks about his deceased brother in the diner, you see the flash of pain across them. When his first wife utters that dreadful phrase, "that's my new rule" you feel the chill of contempt. And when he pleads for June to marry him for the last time, you understand his need for her. You never just see his love, his pain, his fear, his dependence--you feel it. It is utterly and deeply convincing and smacks of genuine artistic genius. Perhaps it stems from his "becoming" his characters, in that it never feels fake because it never is fake. He is Johnny Cash in Walk the Line and it is as true a portrait as has ever been committed to film.

Witherspoon won an Oscar for what I believe, will be in a few years, widely seen as a vastly overrated performance. She is certainly not a bad singer, though she sounds nothing like the woman she is portraying. But that is okay, few could come close to Carter's voice. The problem, the heart of the mediocrity, lies in her acting. It certainly comes as no surprise that she is spunky, cute, perky, and sassy--she always is, it seems her trademark. But she never transcends, she never ceases to be visibly acting. She seems completely conscious of her performance and as a result, so are we. When she catches 'the boys' drunk one morning and reprimands them, she overworks her face; she is trying too hard. As a result we never see a real person living, we see an actress trying to act. Through the quality of the writing and the fact that she is playing a warm, engaging woman, she didn't have to do much to be likable, certainly. But her performance feels all surface, and in her eyes--it's Reese Witherspoon. Her Oscar win would seem undeserved, but when you know how they are decided and how people win, it comes as no surprise.

The highest praise I can think to offer Walk the Line is to admit that I knew very little about Johnny Cash, and now I own some of his music and one of his books. It did more than entertain--it made me care. Phoenix's performance has been called effortless, maybe this is why some viewers seemed to miss the immense acting achievement it truly was. For it takes much more skill to appear effortless than to be labored under the weight of the role. He actually managed to make slipping into the mind of Johnny Cash look effortless.

Really, that may be what I remember most about this film. But as a biopic, it feels like a fitting portrait of the Man in Black. Though Cash fans already have the memory, the mental picture of the legend, Walk the Line shows us how he became one.