Session 005 - Falling Down
Who saw it and what are your thoughts on it?
Monday, August 27, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Followers
Contributors
Labels
Essential Links
- A.O. Scott
- All Movie Guide
- Brian's Richmond.com Articles
- Brian's Temple News Articles
- Bright Lights Film Journal
- Dark Horizons
- Film Reference
- Filmspotting
- Greatest Films
- Hollywood Elsewhere
- The Hot Blog
- The House Next Door
- Internet Movie Database
- Mean Dawg Movie Reviews
- Metacritic
- The New York Times - Movie Section
- Pinewood Dialogues
- Roger Ebert
- Rotten Tomatoes
- Sean Burns
- Senses of Cinema
- They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?
- Turner Classic Movie Database
- Watching the Directors
The Most Popular Film Script Posts
Widget by Blogger Buster
The Film Script E-Mail
Lists of Bests
7 comments:
Now that everyone is back home from vacation and Kelly and I are down living in the new place back in Fredericksburg, I'm gonna try to stay on top of things in regards to posting and specifically getting to the Screening Room Sessions every week. This one is a little late, but at least it's in the ballpark. I'll be back on here again tonight or tomorrow morning to throw in my thoughts on the film after I've had the time to finish it (caught half of it last night and I'll finish the other half later today). Feel free to start the discussion anytime though.
Next to Lost Boys and Phone Booth, it is probably my favorite Schumacher film, but than again I don't think Schumacher is a good director at all.
Here I think he showed some talent. Specifically the opening shot, which weaved in and out of stopped traffic. The shot alone was impressive, but what really blew me away was that it was a clear homage to Fellini's 8 1/2. I never once thought I would be watching a Schumacher film and get such a artsy fartsy homage. It makes me wonder if his other films had some similar scenes. Maybe Batman's nipples were just a homage to Caligula?
Michael Douglas gives a great performance here. It is subtle, yet brimming with ferocity. It never goes over the top, yet you believe in his intentions and his "motives."
That is where the film had a problem for me though..."the motives." What the hell were they? Was he just pissed off about losing his job, so he decided to make a statement by trashing a over priced 7 Eleven, walking through gangland, shooting up a fast food joint, and even killing a racist who earlier helped him. The film seems like it is trying to make statement, but I don't know what it is. Is it "Be Careful Who You Piss Off?" I just don't know.
Duvall was pretty good too, but he always is. I liked his character. People tease him about being a desk jockey, but he did it all for the love of his wife. Now that is all well and good, but who would be in love with that banshee. She was so frighteningly over the top with her frantic phone calls that it always made me wonder why he was retiring early for that. I wish we got to see some softer moments with them that made the connection all the more believable.
Overall I thought it was entertaining, but that is all it got from me. If he was trying to whip a little message at me than he lost me.
We'll miss you Sam Van Hallgren
After the dust up that was the Days of Being Wild screening, it's good to be back on the same page.
I'll even go so far as to echo your comments that it's my third favorite Joel Schumacher film, but having not seen Lost Boys (yes it will eventually make my Top 7 80's misses or at least the honorable mentions section when we get to it), I'll cite Phone Booth and Tigerland as the two above Falling Down.
Having never seen Fellini's 8 & 1/2, I didn't know the opening sequence was an homage but I did recognize it as very different from Schumacher's usual emo. It was incredibly claustrophobic and I was surprised at how uncomfortable I was watching it. It got to the point that I almost felt like following Michael Douglas' example of running away by shutting it off. In a good sense though.
As for the rest of the film. It's definitely nothing special on a whole. What it amounted to me was a laundry list of things that pissed off the screenwriter. He just sat back, jotting down things that irritated him and then threw Michael Douglas' character into the situation so he could comment on it (usually by acting aloof and then extremely menacing without actually saying anything more than "I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore"). The guy needed a shrink and some counseling from the beginning of the film. And nothing really triggers his rage except maybe some road work and bumper-to-bumper traffic (something I sympathize with having dealt with I-66 traffic every day for a year). Still, you don't see him snap. He just is this way. Strange.
Also, I've never seen a movie held together more by two performances. Michael Douglas is legitimately very good in this role. Always twitchy, frayed and about to snap. The guy's motives make no sense like you said Chachi, and I scoffed every time he said something as inane as "you think I want to hurt your family?" while acting all nonchalant about holding a gun on them. The guy's an idiot, but Michael Douglas makes it seem to fit anyway.
And Duvall is doing some spectacular work here with really not much to work with. He's your typical retiring cop looking into one last case... but it seems fresh and sincere with Duvall. He brings humanity (and a weirdly, welcomed sick sense of humor to the role as well). Did anyone else pick up on his exasperated laughs? This is a man who is getting kind of a sick pleasure in it all. In the chase. In the job. Nice work.
Good thing too, because the supporting performances from nearly EVERYONE else are downright awful. Some of the worst acting ever committed to film in my opinion. From the Korean store clerk at the beginning to the Nazi racist to the gangster thugs... just brutally bad, cringeworthy stuff all over the place. It's a miracle the film holds together for as much as it does - and I attribute that solely to Douglas and Duvall. They drag me to the finish line wanting to know how it resolves (although I had pretty much figured there was only one way for it to end by the 45-minute mark).
See it for those performances. Ignore everything else.
Oh, and I had the unique experience of finishing the film after reading your "banshee" comment Chachi and couldn't help but laugh inappropriately every time Duvall's wife is on screen. Another example of some of the lowest caliber acting from this film and you're also right that you can't believe Duvall is in love with this woman. By the time he punches some guy in the face for insulting his wife, I had convinced myself he was hitting him only because the guy had expressed feelings he couldn't. There is no way to love that woman, none.
I completely forgot about Tigerland. That would be the only great film Schumacher has ever done. I think he just accidentally stumbled into that one. Phone Booth is good, but the ending is a cop out in my opinion. Lost Boys is not a particularly good film, but a nostalgic one for me.
I gotta agree that these two actors are the only reason to see it. But oddly enough, it is enough for me to recommend it based simply on that alone. Sometimes nothing else may work except some great acting and that may be all that is needed.
And you know what, I don't think I realized just how awful the supporting performances were. I was always paying attention to Douglas or Duvall that I just ignored them. But obviously they were truly terrible. That Nazi Racist is probably one of the worst characters I've ever seen period.
Agreed. Douglas and especially Duvall are reason enough to watch the film. Also, it's an interesting premise. That it's squandered occasionally is to be expected - it is after all a Schumacher film - but it's a plotline that's engaging enough to warrant a viewing.
And I'll agree further about Schumacher seemingly walking ass-backwards into Tigerland since it shows little connection to the rest of his films and the cop out ending to Phone Booth as long as you're referring to the dead pizza delivery guy with Kiefer walking away and not the rubber bullet... because I thought that and Forest Whitaker's line about "I figured if anyone was gonna shoot you, it should be us" was pretty cool.
Not nearly as in-depth as the other reviews here but I absolutely loved this film. There's really not much more I can say other than I feel it was an excellent film and captured a very particular type of angst at a particular time very well. It certainly has not aged well but I remember how things were, after the LA Riots, etc., how tense things seemed to be in the media when dealing with anything LA, and this movie captured that very well. Obviously a white guy beating up on hispanic gangsters and Korean store owners wasn't going to attract the biggest audience. I still loved it, probably my favorite Schumacher film, though Lost Boys is up there.
Post a Comment