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September 12, 2007
5 ¼ Grams
That’s the weight of a movie that can’t decide whether it is a weighty personal drama or a thriller and ends up being less that any one thing.
There were those of us who felt that Hotel Rwanda was powerful as the first movie about the horrors of the Rwandan genocide, but played a bit like a TV movie with high wattage performances. And now, the question of whether Terry George is really an Oscar caliber director or whether he just found the right story at the right time. The first answer came in the form of Shake Hands With The Devil, Roger Spottiswoode’s feature that tells the story of General Romeo Dellaire, including a bit at the hotel in George’s film, and stands head and shoulders above the earlier film. The second answer came with the squirmy sit through Reservation Road.
If you ever want a confirmation of just how talented (if unrestrained) Alejandro Gonzalez Inurritu and Guillermo Arriaga are, watch 21 Grams and then watch Reservation Road, which really is a kissing first cousin of that film. Giving Reservation Road more credit than it deserves, one could say that the difference is that 21 Grams makes a very distinct choice to explore emotion more than the thriller elements while RR spreads itself too thin by trying to do both. But it is more than that.
Terry George takes three excellent actors to put at the heart of this film… and gets less out of them – in a very emotional situation – than almost anyone else has managed. And Ruffalo, Phoenix, and Connelly are working their asses off. Then, aside from Elle Fanning and Mira Sorvino, who acquits herself well in a near-nothing role, he surrounds them by real mediocrity in the acting ranks. The kid actor feels like a kid actor. The cop feels real, but gives us nothing to hang onto. The boss at the law office is a solid TV guy who delivers a solid TV guy performance.
But the biggest problem is the script. It just never finds a clear idea to work. The best idea, in my opinion, is the meltdown of Joaquin Phoenix after we get the impression that his wife will be the one who completely loses herself in her son’s horrible accidental death. How do people survive this kind of loss… or can they? Really, the only reason for the Ruffalo character to be in the film for more than a few minutes – and by the end, he really seems to be the lead – is to give the thriller part a way to exist. But it really refuses to take hold until so late in the movie that you have already moved past it. And much like the troubled Rendition, the answer ends up being so on the nose that you feel like you wasted your time with these people.
If they really wanted this to be a thriller, they needed to make it a little less easy. But the need to maintain ambiguity in the name of the personal drama makes that tough. The film doesn’t want to create a good guy or a bad guy – an idea I think is completely worthy – but it doesn’t find a way for the two ideas to live together… say, the movie really having the feeling of a clock. They try to establish one in the third act, but again, too late to be trying that then.
The film is less ambitious than Elizabeth: The Golden Age, so it’s not quite as frustrating. But in a festival of many very good, but few great films and not too many clunkers, Reservation Road one falls into one of the rare columns… not the one that Focus Features wants it to.
And now, we will wait for another film to see whether Terry George is a real director or on his way to episodic TV.
Posted by poland at September 12, 2007 09:37 AM
Comments
"But in a festival of many very good, but few great films and not too many clunkers"
Thats my feeling too. I've seen a great many very good films but I'm still chasing that 'Great' film.
'Juno' wasnt it, although I enjoyed it greatly. Neither was 'No Country for Old Men' (also incredibly enjoyable)
A small Israeli film called 'The Bands Visit' comes closest for me so far.
I'm hearing a lot of great things about the film 'Stuck' and thats up next for me so we'll see.
Posted by: bobbob911 ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.mcnblogs.com/thehotblog/nav-commenters.gif)
at September 12, 2007 09:57 AM
Reservation Road sounds and looks very similar to In The Bedroom, which I loved, so it's surprising to hear that it hews closer to 21 Grams.
Posted by: Noah at September 12, 2007 11:33 AM
oh god. worse than 21 Grams? Is that possible? On a lighter note, just came back from "run, fatboy, run" that i assumed would be a terrible trainwreck, but might actually be the best thing Simon Pegg has been in. Fun, silly, but with unexpected heart. not sure it is up to the level of 4 weddings & a funeral, but deserves a much better marketing campaign than the one it is getting...
Posted by: Kambei at September 12, 2007 02:58 PM
Well, 'Stuck' was solid but I finally found my first great film in 'Mister Lonely' by Harmony Korine.
If you've tried and hated Harmony Korine in the past, give this one a try anyways. Its 8 years later (since Julien Donkey-Boy) and his work has definitely matured. This film is full of wonderful imagery, with an actual narrative (a love story, no less!) to back it up.
Diego Luna and Samantha Morton as Michael Jackson and Marylyn Monroe impersonators are wonderfully cast. I was expecting a sort of mismatch freak show type quality going in, but I'll be damned if they both didnt actually look like the real people!
Besides, I could watch Werner Herzog playing a crazy sadistic priest alone for 90 minutes :)
Posted by: bobbob911 at September 12, 2007 06:40 PM
My favorite film that I saw in Toronto was probably Boy A. Also liked Unfinished Sky, Surfwise, Stuck, Nothing is Private, Man From Plains, and Gone with the Women to various degrees.
There were also films at Toronto that I saw elsewhere that I really liked - The Edge of Heaven, Mister Lonely, Jar City, Empties, And Along Come Tourists
Posted by: djk813 at September 12, 2007 09:21 PM
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