Monthly Archives: January 2004

Sunshine State

Posted on January 31, 2004

John Sayles makes what I call fictional demographies; that is, films that take a place at a specific point in time and explore the kind of people you’re likely to encounter there and then, at least in his mind. Even from the first of his own works, Return of the Secaucus 7, to my personal favorite Baby, It’s You and the classics Lone Star and The Secret of Roan Inish, Sayles’ focus is far more on the people and what’s happening to them rather than such niceties as plot and excitement.

2002′s The Sunshine State is much the same. Set on a small, white trash/old black inhabited island near Jacksonville, Florida, that’s finally attracted the attention of developers, we’re mostly concerned with two women of the same age, late 30s, one white, one black and the people in their orbit. Oddly, although both were raised in this small place, neither Marly (Edy Falco) nor Desiree (Angela Bassett) seems aware of the other.

The women recognize the time has come to deal with the results of childhood events and how that’s still affecting their relationships, especially with one particular parent. Unfortunately in neither case does the dialog rise to the situation. Falco and Bassett both do fine acting jobs, as do most of the others in this large, sprawling cast, but Sayles, serving as his own editor, looses everything in a langerous, overlong final cut. For instance, there are several scenes where Gordon Clapp is trying to kill himself but this has almost no relation to the rest of the movie that Sayles makes clear. I expect that if he had cut the movie from about 135 minutes down to, say, 105-110, the end product would have been much more entertaining.

not recommended

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The Guru

Posted on January 12, 2004

There are, it is said, only seven basic plots in all the world, and Shakespeare wrote the best possible versions of each of them 400 years ago. Still, movie theaters and TV channels have space to fill and so studios keep turning out product. The most basic plot of all is boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl and they live happily ever after. The Guru tries to bring a few twists to this old as the hills story and succeeds.

Jimi Mistry is Ramu, an Indian kid who grows up idolizing and idealizing movie musicals and actors, but is little more than a dance teacher who captivates his Macarena students. Shades of Cinema Paradiso but instead of becoming a projectionist, Ramu moves to New York to seek stardom. Mistaking an audition for a porn movie for a real one, he meets Sharonna (Heather Graham), his intended co-star. But, given the opportunity, he can’t perform in front of the crowd of set techs.

Through a series of accidents and mistaken identity Ramu picks up with rich, directionless Lexi (Marisa Tomei) as a guru of sex and Lexi, using her friendships and connections, builds him into a new flash on the New York scene. Meanwhile, Sharonna, engaged to a very strict Catholic firefighter, is giving Ramu lessons so (she thinks) he can make it in the porn world. In reality, he’s using these lessons as the source material for his guru sessions. And then everything collides, but I don’t want to give away the amusements of the last act.

This is a truly funny, witty movie. One of the aspects of much humor in recent years that bothers me is the meanness, the humor that comes at the expense of another. But The Guru is able to avoid this, though admittedly there are a few stereotypes (like Tomei’s rich bitch mother, played by Christine Baranski). The script is by Tracey Jackson (her first produced script) and the film is directed by Daisy von Scherler Mayer (the Parker Posey indie Party Girl and Jada Pinkett’s Woo) and these women combine to bring a terrific touch and sensitivity to their work.

Recommended

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The Kids Are Alright

Posted on January 6, 2004

With the film successes of Tommy and Quadrophenia in the bank, Pete Townsend and Company capitalized with The Kids Are Alright. While the first two were ‘real’ films, with plots and everything, this one is more a collection of film clips and interview bits massaged together–if Kids came out 15 years later it would have been an MTV special or DVD release. But if you’re a Who fan, this is well worth the time to see and enjoy. Lots of classic tunage, including a great and revealing live version of Shout and shimmy and nicely done recording studio footage of then-new Who Are You, and some primo Moon looniness topping.

Recommended

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Something's Gotta Give

Posted on January 2, 2004

This Jack Nicholson/Diane Keaton movie was good, really good; I’d say it even had a chance to be on some all-time top romantic comedy lists but missed by just a bit. Nicholson plays his public personna: the wealthy ultimate womanizing bachelor still dating under 30 beauties at 63, with the concept of commitment and relationship utterly foreign to him. Keaton plays a mid-50s-ish divorcee, a leading playwright who’s given up on finding someone to shop at her store (to paraphrase one of her lines).

Nancy Meyers has a history with romantic comedies–Father of the Bride, Baby Boom, What Women Want–so Something’s Gotta Give doesn’t come out of the blue but she’s certainly taken her game to another level since divorcing former writing/producing partner Charles Shyer prior to Women. While I’ve no reason to believe that this is autobiographical, one can easily draw a line from her circumstances, throw in demonstrable creativity and get a character in Keaton’s Erica that Meyers understands. And being a longtime Hollywood professional, she’s surely met many men like Nicholson’s Harry Sanborn!

As I said, this is almost an all-timer, which certainly makes me happy to have spent $15 for two tickets. The plotting is believable and the way we get to the (admittedly inevitable) ending has unpredictable twists, the characters feel real and developed, the dialog is funny and crisp. The main supporting roles are done well too: Keanu Reeves in his first post-Matrix role as Nicholson’s doctor and a much younger man who falls for Keaton, Amanda Peet as Keaton’s daughter and Nicholson’s original romantic interest, and Frances McDormand plays the encouraging, snarky, intelligent sister who pushes Keaton to remember that life is for the living.

So what quibbles did I find that make me say Something’s Gotta Give is almost but not quite great? There are three main reasons. First, towards the end after what is the first false ending (when Harry comes to the rehearsal of Erica’s new play), Meyers simply skips the action ahead six months and this feels artificial and out of step with the rest of the movie. Second, Peet’s character is the only one that doesn’t feel real and in the second half seems written simply to support the plot rather than organically do the job. Last, I wonder why there isn’t a single less than beautiful person in the entire movie–the closest is a somewhat chunky Jon Favreau in a cameo as Nicholson’s chief assistant–and I see this a true flaw in a movie which argues, at its core, that model-style beauty isn’t necessary for love. Even so, where a classic would rank above 95 on a scale of 100, I’d rate Something at 90±2.

Surely recommended

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