Film Is a Battleground #6 (Garden State, Revengers Tragedy, The Girl Next Door)
originally published September 9, 2004
GARDEN STATE (in theaters)
REVENGERS TRAGEDY (on DVD)
THE GIRL NEXT DOOR (on DVD)
GARDEN STATE (Zach Braff, 2004)
** (Worth seeing)
As a writer of dialogue, Zach Braff’s current limitations stand out in contrast to his impressive abilities as a writer and director only because he’s equally ambitious in all three endeavors. Though too earnest in its moments of navel-gazing and sentimentality, GARDEN STATE is an extremely promising debut. That Braff desires to include serious moments of reflection and sentiment speaks to his ambition. Though clever, he understands that cleverness should not supersede ideas and emotions.
I’d only previously seen Braff in THE BROKEN HEARTS CLUB, a slight film most notable for giving Timothy Olyphant (see below, THE GIRL NEXT DOOR) his first lead role. Playing a hysterical innocent utilized primarily for condescending comic relief, Braff gave no hint of the timing he brings to both the physical and verbal comedy of his role in GARDEN STATE.
Not that he just demonstrates comic timing as an actor. GARDEN STATE rises above both the many lifeless examples of debut films made by actors (Robert Redford’s ORDINARY PEOPLE, Todd Field’s IN THE BEDROOM, Spacey’s ALBINO ALLIGATOR, Frank Whaley’s THE JIMMY SHOW, and many, many others) or young hyphenates discovered at Sundance (GARDEN STATE certainly underscores the self-satisfied lie that is Edward Burns’s career). Without relying on well-known quantities behind the camera (not impugn the fine work of cinematographer Lawrence Sher, editor Myron Kerstein, or production designer Judy Becker, just to acknowledge that none are household names), Braff has created a specific universe for his film. Not that it’s an especially unique universe. The film’s portrayal of suburban ennui caused by blunted, frustrated ambition resembles, without being derivative of, the more accomplished work of Dave Eggers and Wes Anderson.
Were Braff not so talented, his decision to surround himself with a cast consisting of Peter Sarsgaard, Ian Holm, Ron Leibman, Denis O’Hare, and Jean Smart would seem more self-destructive than self-confident. All give good performances in roles of varying size and complexity. Leibman shines, especially. He gives a better, more relaxed version of the compassionate, professional elder he played in AUTO FOCUS.
Natalie Portman gives her best performance since BEAUTIFUL GIRLS, but I’m not sure how good it is. An interesting case, similar to Claire Danes and Julia Stiles, in that they are all beautiful, young, Ivy League-educated American actresses who should be much more interesting than they are, Portman can be compelling on-screen without ever seeming to commit to a character. Granted, most of the film roles offered to young women don’t provide anything to which one can commit. Still, the examples of Anna Paquin and Sarah Polley remind you of the heights these young American actors have yet to scale.
REVENGERS TRAGEDY (Alex Cox, 2002)
*** (A Must-see)
Alex Cox’s most recent theatrical feature (and only the second he’s been able to see to completion since 1992’s HIGHWAY PATROLMAN) offers a stirring reminder of his talents.
Cox possesses a pop sensibility in the best, classical sense of the word. He believes in the power of universal common experiences. Furthermore, he has the talent to create them. REPO MAN has felt contemporary and relevant for twenty years. SID AND NANCY, made fifteen years ago, still offers a fine example of how to make a lively biopic and/or rock film. (One of the surprises of the great 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE, also written by REVENGERS TRAGEDY screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce, was Michael Winterbottom’s ability to appropriate something much closer to Cox’s generous spirit than his usual ponderous tone.)
REVENGERS TRAGEDY stages Thomas Middleton’s Jacobean tragedy in a near-future Liverpool decimated by violence, media, a controlling elite, and full of people speaking in classical verse. The use of verse, perhaps because, unlike most filmmakers working with classical material, Cox understands the language, is not a limitation. Instead, Cox uses the un-reality of the language as an impetus to forgo realism all together. The film is electric, absurd, and coherent. The performances are theatrical (sometimes mock-theatrical), witty, and emotional. It seems that the outsized, all-encompassing nature of Vindici’s revenge (and the allowance to address the camera/audience directly) has unleashed in Christopher Eccleston an intense charisma heretofore hidden. As in THE CAT’S MEOW, Eddie Izzard uses his wit to reveal the depth and complexity of a self-consciously theatrical character.
REVENGERS TRAGEDY, released directly to home video in the States, offers the perfect opportunity for say, someone just arrived at graduate school, to impress his undoubtedly arty and pretentious classmates with something cool and unknown yet derived from the theatrical arts. You’re welcome.
THE GIRL NEXT DOOR (Luke Greenfield, 2004)
* (Has a redeeming facet)
Earlier this year, Timothy Olyphant finally got a role worthy of his talents on HBO’s DEADWOOD. His performance in that (on-going) series stands out even amidst the uniformly excellent work of the ensemble and may yet rank among the great performances in the history of the Western, especially if he gets to do another episode with Walter Hill. I defy anyone to stop watching DEADWOOD after absorbing the first scene of the first episode, starring Olyphant and directed by Hill.
Olyphant gave his first compelling performance in a negligible film in Doug Liman’s GO. Despite generally lifeless, neutered surroundings he brought a bit of wit, sexuality, and danger to THE BROKEN HEARTS CLUB and ROCK STAR as well. He does the same in THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, another film completely undeserving of his talents.
A rip-off of RISKY BUSINESS that fails to achieve even the modest aims of that (inexplicably well regarded) film, THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, it seems, exists only to promote the possibility of seeing Elisha Cuthbert naked. That this proves to be an empty come-on isn’t surprising as people tend not admit complaint when their investment in prurience is not rewarded.
Olyphant has the Joe Pantoliano role. With his first appearance he takes command of the film and every subsequent second he’s off the screen seems interminable. Even by the standards of teen sex comedies this film seems unimportant and its creators disengaged. Why, for example, in a contemporary youth film does the soundtrack consist of “Under Pressure,” “The Killing Moon,” and “Baba O’Reilly?” Is it to make the audience stop thinking about all the movies better than the one they’re watching and start to consider worthy music as well?
As for the film’s nominal leads, Ms. Cuthbert is lovely but lacks much of a spark, though blame for the material’s shallowness should not fall at her feet. Emile Hirsch, the putative hero, though not as unrelentingly blank as Tom Cruise, strolls through his role with the minimal effort it deserves, though he comes to life briefly after Olyphant slips him some ecstasy under the guise of aspirin. Such passes for a comic high point in this film.
GARDEN STATE (in theaters)
REVENGERS TRAGEDY (on DVD)
THE GIRL NEXT DOOR (on DVD)
GARDEN STATE (Zach Braff, 2004)
** (Worth seeing)
As a writer of dialogue, Zach Braff’s current limitations stand out in contrast to his impressive abilities as a writer and director only because he’s equally ambitious in all three endeavors. Though too earnest in its moments of navel-gazing and sentimentality, GARDEN STATE is an extremely promising debut. That Braff desires to include serious moments of reflection and sentiment speaks to his ambition. Though clever, he understands that cleverness should not supersede ideas and emotions.
I’d only previously seen Braff in THE BROKEN HEARTS CLUB, a slight film most notable for giving Timothy Olyphant (see below, THE GIRL NEXT DOOR) his first lead role. Playing a hysterical innocent utilized primarily for condescending comic relief, Braff gave no hint of the timing he brings to both the physical and verbal comedy of his role in GARDEN STATE.
Not that he just demonstrates comic timing as an actor. GARDEN STATE rises above both the many lifeless examples of debut films made by actors (Robert Redford’s ORDINARY PEOPLE, Todd Field’s IN THE BEDROOM, Spacey’s ALBINO ALLIGATOR, Frank Whaley’s THE JIMMY SHOW, and many, many others) or young hyphenates discovered at Sundance (GARDEN STATE certainly underscores the self-satisfied lie that is Edward Burns’s career). Without relying on well-known quantities behind the camera (not impugn the fine work of cinematographer Lawrence Sher, editor Myron Kerstein, or production designer Judy Becker, just to acknowledge that none are household names), Braff has created a specific universe for his film. Not that it’s an especially unique universe. The film’s portrayal of suburban ennui caused by blunted, frustrated ambition resembles, without being derivative of, the more accomplished work of Dave Eggers and Wes Anderson.
Were Braff not so talented, his decision to surround himself with a cast consisting of Peter Sarsgaard, Ian Holm, Ron Leibman, Denis O’Hare, and Jean Smart would seem more self-destructive than self-confident. All give good performances in roles of varying size and complexity. Leibman shines, especially. He gives a better, more relaxed version of the compassionate, professional elder he played in AUTO FOCUS.
Natalie Portman gives her best performance since BEAUTIFUL GIRLS, but I’m not sure how good it is. An interesting case, similar to Claire Danes and Julia Stiles, in that they are all beautiful, young, Ivy League-educated American actresses who should be much more interesting than they are, Portman can be compelling on-screen without ever seeming to commit to a character. Granted, most of the film roles offered to young women don’t provide anything to which one can commit. Still, the examples of Anna Paquin and Sarah Polley remind you of the heights these young American actors have yet to scale.
REVENGERS TRAGEDY (Alex Cox, 2002)
*** (A Must-see)
Alex Cox’s most recent theatrical feature (and only the second he’s been able to see to completion since 1992’s HIGHWAY PATROLMAN) offers a stirring reminder of his talents.
Cox possesses a pop sensibility in the best, classical sense of the word. He believes in the power of universal common experiences. Furthermore, he has the talent to create them. REPO MAN has felt contemporary and relevant for twenty years. SID AND NANCY, made fifteen years ago, still offers a fine example of how to make a lively biopic and/or rock film. (One of the surprises of the great 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE, also written by REVENGERS TRAGEDY screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce, was Michael Winterbottom’s ability to appropriate something much closer to Cox’s generous spirit than his usual ponderous tone.)
REVENGERS TRAGEDY stages Thomas Middleton’s Jacobean tragedy in a near-future Liverpool decimated by violence, media, a controlling elite, and full of people speaking in classical verse. The use of verse, perhaps because, unlike most filmmakers working with classical material, Cox understands the language, is not a limitation. Instead, Cox uses the un-reality of the language as an impetus to forgo realism all together. The film is electric, absurd, and coherent. The performances are theatrical (sometimes mock-theatrical), witty, and emotional. It seems that the outsized, all-encompassing nature of Vindici’s revenge (and the allowance to address the camera/audience directly) has unleashed in Christopher Eccleston an intense charisma heretofore hidden. As in THE CAT’S MEOW, Eddie Izzard uses his wit to reveal the depth and complexity of a self-consciously theatrical character.
REVENGERS TRAGEDY, released directly to home video in the States, offers the perfect opportunity for say, someone just arrived at graduate school, to impress his undoubtedly arty and pretentious classmates with something cool and unknown yet derived from the theatrical arts. You’re welcome.
THE GIRL NEXT DOOR (Luke Greenfield, 2004)
* (Has a redeeming facet)
Earlier this year, Timothy Olyphant finally got a role worthy of his talents on HBO’s DEADWOOD. His performance in that (on-going) series stands out even amidst the uniformly excellent work of the ensemble and may yet rank among the great performances in the history of the Western, especially if he gets to do another episode with Walter Hill. I defy anyone to stop watching DEADWOOD after absorbing the first scene of the first episode, starring Olyphant and directed by Hill.
Olyphant gave his first compelling performance in a negligible film in Doug Liman’s GO. Despite generally lifeless, neutered surroundings he brought a bit of wit, sexuality, and danger to THE BROKEN HEARTS CLUB and ROCK STAR as well. He does the same in THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, another film completely undeserving of his talents.
A rip-off of RISKY BUSINESS that fails to achieve even the modest aims of that (inexplicably well regarded) film, THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, it seems, exists only to promote the possibility of seeing Elisha Cuthbert naked. That this proves to be an empty come-on isn’t surprising as people tend not admit complaint when their investment in prurience is not rewarded.
Olyphant has the Joe Pantoliano role. With his first appearance he takes command of the film and every subsequent second he’s off the screen seems interminable. Even by the standards of teen sex comedies this film seems unimportant and its creators disengaged. Why, for example, in a contemporary youth film does the soundtrack consist of “Under Pressure,” “The Killing Moon,” and “Baba O’Reilly?” Is it to make the audience stop thinking about all the movies better than the one they’re watching and start to consider worthy music as well?
As for the film’s nominal leads, Ms. Cuthbert is lovely but lacks much of a spark, though blame for the material’s shallowness should not fall at her feet. Emile Hirsch, the putative hero, though not as unrelentingly blank as Tom Cruise, strolls through his role with the minimal effort it deserves, though he comes to life briefly after Olyphant slips him some ecstasy under the guise of aspirin. Such passes for a comic high point in this film.
Labels: alex cox, frank cottrell boyce, garden state, luke greenfield, revengers tragedy, the girl next door, timothy olyphant, zach braff
posted by Bret LaGree at 13:33
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