Screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga's big-screen collaborations with director Alejandro González Iñárritu have produced a trio of highly accomplished films - "Amores Perros", "21 Grams", and "Babel" – that juxtaposed several story lines, all tied together by characters who were damaged souls in search of redemption and connection with one another. Although the two had a very public falling-out, Arriaga still appears to be strongly influenced by his former partner's jumbled film-making style as he takes over the director's chair with this 2009 drama. The chief problem, however, is that Arriaga doesn't really show Iñárritu's passion and audacity as he attempts to pull off the considerable demands of a non-linear narrative with conviction. Moreover, Arriaga the screenwriter lets down Arriaga the director with a script that ultimately feels too predictable and contrived despite strong performances from the cast.
There looks to be four separate stories at the outset, which eventually transitions into two. The first involves Sylvia, the manager of an upscale, seaside restaurant in Portland, an extremely pained woman who prefers casual sex followed by self-inflicted punishment. She is obviously anguished over something that motivates her erratic behavior. The second thread takes place in New Mexico near the Mexican border where Gina, an unhappily married mother of four, is carrying on an affair with a local man named Nick, also married with children. The complication here is that her daughter Mariana finds out about the affair and embarks on a relationship with Nick's son Santiago. Meanwhile, in Mexico, a crop-duster plane crash-lands on an open field, as his twelve-year-old daughter Maria watches in horror.
Arriaga's fractured approach works for a little while albeit in an emotionally draining, humorless way. However, when the moment of revelation arrives (and much too early), the plot unravels into a Lifetime TV-movie level of sanctimony obscured by the fiery explosion that gives the movie its name. Proving yet again that a beautiful woman can convincingly expose the torment of a soul under fire, Charlize Theron successfully makes the nihilistic Sylvia an ultimately sympathetic figure. Kim Basinger, looking entirely too stunning and wrinkle-free at 55 to be a K-Mart-shopping housewife, manages to get to the heart of a guilt-ridden woman, even as she shows Gina going through the predictable machinations of her illicit actions.
The stand-out performance, however, comes from Jennifer Lawrence, a Jewel-look-alike, as the troubled teen Mariana, the dramatic pivot for the whole movie. Tessa Ia makes a strong impression as the pensive Maria, while the men barely make a ripple – John Corbett as a smitten sous-chef in Sylvia's restaurant, Joaquim de Almeida as the passionate Nick, José María Yazpik as the go-between Carlos, and Danny Pino as the pilot. The one exception is J.D. Pardo who plays Santiago as the impetuous Romeo to Lawrence's Juliet. Robin Tunney shows up in a smallish role as Sylvia's one true friend. Robert Elswit and John Toll share cinematography responsibilities here, and they do an excellent job capturing all the locales. At the end of the movie, I couldn't help thinking that Arriaga's yin was fundamentally missing Iñárritu's yang.
There looks to be four separate stories at the outset, which eventually transitions into two. The first involves Sylvia, the manager of an upscale, seaside restaurant in Portland, an extremely pained woman who prefers casual sex followed by self-inflicted punishment. She is obviously anguished over something that motivates her erratic behavior. The second thread takes place in New Mexico near the Mexican border where Gina, an unhappily married mother of four, is carrying on an affair with a local man named Nick, also married with children. The complication here is that her daughter Mariana finds out about the affair and embarks on a relationship with Nick's son Santiago. Meanwhile, in Mexico, a crop-duster plane crash-lands on an open field, as his twelve-year-old daughter Maria watches in horror.
Arriaga's fractured approach works for a little while albeit in an emotionally draining, humorless way. However, when the moment of revelation arrives (and much too early), the plot unravels into a Lifetime TV-movie level of sanctimony obscured by the fiery explosion that gives the movie its name. Proving yet again that a beautiful woman can convincingly expose the torment of a soul under fire, Charlize Theron successfully makes the nihilistic Sylvia an ultimately sympathetic figure. Kim Basinger, looking entirely too stunning and wrinkle-free at 55 to be a K-Mart-shopping housewife, manages to get to the heart of a guilt-ridden woman, even as she shows Gina going through the predictable machinations of her illicit actions.
The stand-out performance, however, comes from Jennifer Lawrence, a Jewel-look-alike, as the troubled teen Mariana, the dramatic pivot for the whole movie. Tessa Ia makes a strong impression as the pensive Maria, while the men barely make a ripple – John Corbett as a smitten sous-chef in Sylvia's restaurant, Joaquim de Almeida as the passionate Nick, José María Yazpik as the go-between Carlos, and Danny Pino as the pilot. The one exception is J.D. Pardo who plays Santiago as the impetuous Romeo to Lawrence's Juliet. Robin Tunney shows up in a smallish role as Sylvia's one true friend. Robert Elswit and John Toll share cinematography responsibilities here, and they do an excellent job capturing all the locales. At the end of the movie, I couldn't help thinking that Arriaga's yin was fundamentally missing Iñárritu's yang.