economically_deficient Reviews

Stone (2010)

An interesting film, grows on you

[10/10 · 23 October 2010]

Going to the theater, my expectations of "Stone" were rather typical of any thriller produced nowadays. Reading the (somewhat misleading) synopsis and looking through the cast, I couldn't set my hopes up to anything far beyond "ordinary thriller with a decent cast that probably won't outdo a potentially blunt story".

Keep in mind: this is NOT a thriller, at least in the conventional sense of the word. It's a heavy drama with extremely minimal undertones of suspense.

The basis of the story is quite simple (read the synopsis), but the majority of the film's focus is in its character study. This is where the actors seriously shine. That seems to be the issue with most of the negative responses the film received. Yes, it is slow paced. Yes, there's a lot of religious jargon thrown around. Yes, it is quite the anti-climactic film. But isn't that the point? De Niro, who I haven't seen in anything memorable after Jackie Brown (okay, I'll exclude The Good Shepherd), is marvelous as the underplayed Jack Mabrey. The subtle nuances he gives to a character so burned out of work, marriage -sidenote: Frances Conroy was amazing-, and life in general (the speech he gives at his brother's funeral in the beginning comes to mind) are nothing short of astonishing. I can't stress on how great the performance was, De Niro has definitely gone back on track.

Edward Norton is equally terrific. I could go on and on about his perfect use of mannerisms, facial gestures, and especially the accent to formulate an interesting character. What I found interesting, and fortunately detracted any notions of the film being one-sided religious crap, was the contrast between Jack and Stone's religious beliefs/endeavors; Mabrey, for instance, sitting in the porch with his disturbingly delusional wife, discussing religion and the existence of God, while shunning its very purpose during situations of danger and conflict (the seduction, and another scene towards the end which I won't spoil). Stone, on the other hand, a misguided delinquent with strange views of death, forms an epiphany on the purpose of his existence at a more realistic - another good word is unconstitutional - level during his stay in prison, confusing the hell out of everyone due to his inability of expressing it on a more intellectual basis. This probably makes one very lucky case of ignorance being bliss.

The biggest surprise, however, was Milla Jovovich. I honestly did not see that coming from her at all. Her previous attempt in handling a serious role in ".45" only came off as an attempt, with clunky overacting that I guess can be forgiven due to the frigging horrible writing and direction of that film. But she does extremely well here as Stone's wife, the sexy seductress with a personally agonizing struggle of commitment. With her loyalty to Stone becoming blurred through the sexual encounters with other men and her general flirtatious attitude, it was mesmerizing to see Jovovich pull it off so well. She was simply dynamic in this film.

As the credits started rolling, I could hear many people in the theater ranting about how their time has been wasted. Lots of "what the hell?" came up, too. I'll admit that it came off as a surprise to how it just abruptly ended, but I eventually managed to appreciate the artistic integrity of the film. One reviewer here commented: "Stone is well acted. So what? Do you go to the movies to see good acting class exercises?" I can't put myself to agree with this, the film's got far more that just "acting class exercises". It is a sharply written, well directed film that I plan on watching again.

It sure got me thinking, and that seems to be what many others don't expect anymore.

Violent Cop (1989)

Kitano's early effort just doesn't seem to work

[8/10 · 14 July 2010]

I admit, I have fallen prey into appreciating, respecting, and even loving the style of Takeshi Kitano. With "Brother" being my first Kitano film, it was slightly difficult for me to get into his awkward directing methods. Long takes of characters moving (or sitting, or standing) lifelessly, sudden bursts of graphic violence, occasional humor, strange editing techniques, etc. It took me a while to fully appreciate his way of telling a story and developing his characters. Eventually, once I realized how it was meant to be I simply got hooked. Kitano has definitely set a name for himself as a respected filmmaker in Asian Cinema and film-making itself.

All the ass-kissing aside, I decided to check out his early stuff to see how it all started. And I must say, Violent Cop came out as a disappointment to me.

In fact, if it wasn't for a few interesting scenes and the Kitano flavored direction, I'd say it was downright HORRIBLE.

So where do we go from here? Well, I've barely seen any of Kitano's usual comedic routines in Japan, so I was able to take him seriously in this film. That's a start.

I'll try summing up what I think went wrong with this film: Kitano got a hold of a director's position for the first time, but got too excited and smeared the whole film (nervously) with his own style.

That's how it feels like watching Violent Cop. It tries too hard to be different (not saying being different is a bad thing, but it certainly feels forced in this one). I understand this was Kitano's very first effort in directing (he even acknowledges in an interview that he truly dislikes this film), but if you're more into his recent work (or anything after Violent Cop really), there's a high chance you'll be disappointed.

"The Cons": The BIGGEST issue I have with the whole film isn't the direction (it's not bad at all), it's the freaking script. The story almost goes nowhere. I had a hard time telling why many scenes were in the film (especially by the second half). It feels like they were there for the sake of being there. Maybe I'm wrong, or I don't grasp the whole "art" behind it, but it certainly felt very sloppy in this one. Don't get me wrong, the story has its moments, and it's not much confusing, but there's too much focus on the most unnecessary of things.

"The Pros": Now that I've vented my frustration with the film... The presence of Kitano's direction make up for the whole messed up script. I find the opening shot to be bizarrely riveting, and traces of the Kitano directorial spice which eventually evolved into much better films are to be found in Violent Cop. The characters were quite believable (Kitano does shine as always with showing very little emotion-besides rage, of course), some were creepy, some just really messed up (I felt truly sorry for the main character's daughter), all in all a decent acting effort. The violence was pretty satisfying, too. Also, the film contains probably the single most awesome foot/car chase I've ever seen (don't get your hopes up, though); seriously, as these mainstream films try their best to make it "breathtaking", Kitano captures it beautifully in this one. The slow music, the way we see them running from the strangest angles, the whole scene lasts over ten minutes, and it's simply really damn cool!

In the end: Check it out, it won't hurt. Though, if you've seen any of Kitano's other films then prepare to be somewhat disappointed. If you're starting out with him, I suggest you seek out a different title instead (perhaps Sonatine or Brother).