subUrbia (1997 film)

Directed by Richard Linklater and written by Eric Bogosian from his own play, subUrbia is the story about a group of young adults hanging around in a corner to meet with an old friend who has become famous as they deal with their own issues and resentments toward their old friend. The film is about growing up as individuals in their 20s are dealing with their own lack of progress while some are eager to leave the dreary town they live in. Starring Giovanni Ribisi, Steve Zahn, Nicky Katt, Parker Posey, Jayce Bartok, Amie Carey, Dina Spybey, and Ajay Naidu. subUrbia is a riveting yet compelling drama from Richard Linklater.

The film takes place in the span of an entire night at the corner of a convenience store where a group of people in their 20s are set to meet an old friend who has become a famous musician yet not everyone is eager to bask in over their friend’s success. The film is really about a group of people stuck in a Texan suburb where some of them haven’t done much with their lives as some aspire to do things while there are those who aren’t sure what to do. Once their famous friend arrives to hang out with them, resentments and jealousy occur where some think they know more but are really just fooling themselves. Most of the story takes place in the corner of a convenience store where its owner is annoyed the presence of these people as he is already set to have a college degree in engineering.

Eric Bogosian’s screenplay takes it time to introduce many characters and their aspirations while it is set mostly in the night where all these characters come together at this convenience store corner. Leading the pack is Jeff (Giovanni Ribisi) who is this man who is very intelligent but is unsure about what to do with his life as he’s become very cynical as he is always talking about whatever as his bitterness is already troubling his relationship with his performance artist girlfriend Sooze (Amie Carey) who wants to leave her small town to go to New York City. Among their small circle of friends includes the hyperactive pizza boy Buff (Steve Zahn), the recovering alcoholic Bee-Bee (Dina Spybey), and the depressed and bitter Tim (Nicky Katt) who just got kicked out of the Air Force.

When the film’s second act features the character of Pony (Jayce Bartok) who arrives with his publicist Erica (Parker Posey), it creates this sense of humor and sadness where some are happy to see Pony while others aren’t. Jeff and Tim are among those who have some resentment towards Pony while the latter is also taking his anger out towards the convenience store owner Nazeer (Ajay Naidu) who is annoyed by the presence of these kids. Yet, Tim would do something in the third act that would drive some of the drama that would prompt Jeff to see if he needs to be loyal to Tim or tell the truth but what happens only have him confused while Nazeer is aware of Jeff’s worth in life but the film’s ending would play into Jeff’s failing as a person.

The direction of Richard Linklater is quite simplistic as he sets the film largely in this Texan suburb near Austin where it’s a place that looks like any small town in America. Yet, there is an intimacy to the direction where Linklater creates a feel that is quite theatrical where it largely takes place at this convenience store corner. The direction is often very loose in its compositions with some wide shots and close-ups while the drama while putting his actors into the frame to create a sense of theatricality in the setting. There also some wild moments in the film including some serious ones such as the ending which revolves around Jeff’s friendship with Tim and everything he’s been through in the course of the day. Particularly as it would also involve the sense of wasted opportunity that Jeff has presented himself with his life. Overall, Linklater creates a very engaging yet brash film about uncertainty and ambition.

Cinematographer Lee Daniel does excellent work with the film‘s cinematography with the use of lights to create a mood for many of the film‘s nighttime exterior scenes as well as a few moments in its interior settings. Editor Sandra Adair does nice work with the editing as it‘s mostly straightforward with a few rhythmic cuts to play out the intensity of the drama. Production designer Catherine Hardwicke, with set decorator Keith Fletcher and art director Seth Reed, does terrific work with the minimal set pieces from the look of the convenience store to Tim‘s van nearby.

Costume designer Melanie Armstrong Fletcher does good work with the clothes as it‘s mostly casual to play up the sense of small town life. Sound editor Tom Hammond does wonderful work with the sound to capture the atmosphere of the locations including some of the intimacy in the van and inside the convenience store. Music supervisor Randall Poster creates a fantastic soundtrack that largely consists of alternative music from the 90s from bands like Ministry, Skinny Puppy, Sonic Youth, the Flaming Lips, Girls Against Boys, Beck, Elastica with Stephen Malkmus, and Boss Hog along with Gene Pitney’s Town with Pity that opens the film.

The casting by Alycia Aumuller and Judy Henderson is superb for the ensemble that is created that features an appearance from Samia Shoaib as Nazeer’s wife who carries a gun early in the film during one of Tim’s drunken threats. Parker Posey is excellent as Pony’s publicist Erica who is intrigued by Pony’s friends while Jayce Bartok is terrific as Pony as a guy who’s made it but admits that it’s not all that fun. Dina Spybey is great as Bee-Bee as a friend of Sooze who is currently going through withdrawal from alcohol as she is unsure about what to do next as drawn to Jeff’s cynicism. Ajay Naidu is brilliant as Nazeer as a man who calmly deals with the presence of Jeff and his friends while he takes some time to get to know Jeff though he’s more annoyed by Jeff’s lack of progress and the antics of Buff.

Steve Zahn is excellent as Buff as this hyperactive pizza boy who seems to be a dimwitted individual yet is someone with some aspirations to become a filmmaker. Amie Carey is wonderful as Sooze as a woman who is very ambitious about her work as an artist as she wants to get out of small town much to the dismay of Jeff. Nicky Katt is amazing as the troubled Tim who deals with being kicked out of the Air Force as he vents on everything he’s been through while doesn’t seem to have a care in the world for anything or anyone. Finally, there’s Giovanni Ribisi in a marvelous performance as Jeff as a young cynic who is unsure about where he’s going with his life as he is someone with brains and talents but is often too insecure about his gifts making him bitter towards those around him.

subUrbia is a remarkable film from Richard Linklater and its writer Eric Bogosian about the trials and tribulations of growing up. Thanks to its ensemble cast as well as superb soundtrack, it’s a film that plays into the sense of uncertainty that was prevalent in the 1990s that still resonates with people who are unsure about themselves. It’s also a film that explores those who are unwilling to take the next step as they often lose the chance to seize the moment that could get them what they want. In the end, subUrbia is a brilliant film from Richard Linklater.

Richard Linklater Films: It’s Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books - Slacker - Dazed & Confused - Before Sunrise - The Newton Boys - Waking Life - Tape - School of Rock - Before Sunset - Bad News Bears (2005 film) - A Scanner Darkly - Fast Food Nation - Me and Orson Welles - Bernie (2011 film) - Before Midnight - Boyhood - Everybody Want Some!! - The Auteurs #57: Richard Linklater Pt. 1 - Pt. 2

© thevoid99 2013

Deconstructing Harry

Originally Written and Directed at Epinions.com on 12/26/05 w/ Additional Edits & Revisions.

Written, directed, and starring Woody Allen as Harry Block, the film is about a writer whose self-absorbed working lifestyle and attitude practically alienates everyone around him. Now dealing with writer's block, he's also dealing with the mess of his relationships while trying to make amends with an ex-girlfriend who is going to get married. Then when he's about to be honored by a school, who threw him out in his freshman year, for his writing, all hell breaks loose in his intentions as the stories he based on his life comes back to haunt him. With an ensemble cast that includes Allen regulars Julie Kavner, Judy Davis, Caroline Aaron, Julia-Louis Dreyfus, and Mariel Hemingway plus Billy Crystal, Robin Williams, Kirstie Alley, Bob Balaban, Amy Irving, Eric Bogosian, Elisabeth Shue, Tobey McGuire, Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci, Richard Benjamin, Eric Lloyd, Paul Giamatti, Jennifer Garner, and Hazelle Goodman. Deconstructing Harry is a fun but abrasive film from the often charming and funny Woody Allen.

Harry Block is writing various stories that was inspired by his own affair with a former in-law in Lucy (Judy Davis) about a man named Ken (Richard Benjamin) who has sex with his sister-in-law Leslie (Julia-Louis Dreyfus) at a barbeque. Harry tells the angry Lucy another story about a young named Harvey (Tobey McGuire) who pretends to be someone else where he meets the Grim Reaper. Yet it's among the many small stories Harry comes up with that includes a literally out-of-focused actor (Robin Williams) and one about a couple (Stanley Tucci and Demi Moore) that is based on his second marriage to psychiatrist Joan (Kirstie Alley). Still, he tells his current shrink (Robert Harper) about his writer's block as he learns he's to be honored by Adair University that kicked out him out during his freshman year.

Harry wants to take his son Hilly (Eric Lloyd) despite Joan's refusal while learns that his most recent girlfriend Fay (Elisabeth Shue) is getting married to his friend Larry (Billy Crystal). After calling for the services of a hooker named Cookie (Hazelle Goodman), he asks her to join him for the awards ceremony as he also takes his fearful friend Richard (Bob Balaban) and Hilly for a road trip to Adair University. During the trip, Harry's fictional life starts to emerge to him as he stops to visit his half-sister Doris (Caroline Aaron) and her husband/rabbi Burt (Eric Bogosian) where the visit doesn't go well due to a story inspired by Harry's contempt towards their late father (Gene Saks). Harry's fictional world and characters start to appear to him where he's forced to see some of the things he's done to people.

Arriving to Adair, Harry's fictional world and real-life starts to collide as he meets a literature professor (Philip Boso) as Harry tells a story about a meeting with the Devil that is in the form of Larry who forces Harry to face his sins.

Inspired by one of Allen's favorite filmmakers Ingmar Bergman and his 1957 film Wild Strawberries, Allen goes for a world where reality and fiction really do blur. Since Allen is known more for his writing, he reveals the troubles that a writer goes through whenever being dealt with writer's block and where fiction comes from. This results where many of the fictional characters in Harry's life are based purely from real people where those people know what characters they are. Their reaction is expected since everything that Harry does is upsetting and he degrades pretty much every female counterpart he's been with to create all of these characters. The film's ending sums up what the film is really all about. A man who couldn't adjust reality where to the point that he creates a fictional world where he ends up hurting the people around him.

Truly this is one of Woody Allen's most bizarre and edgy scripts but it's also one of darkest. There's a cynicism throughout the film while Allen also brings out some of the most abrasive and incendiary dialogue of his career. The use of graphic language isn't just shocking (to the world of Allen) but in his intent where you begin to wonder what inspired Allen to come up with this dialogue. Did he go out and stumble upon a few gangsta-rap albums or listen to Nine Inch Nails' Broken EP? Still, the dialogue brings out a comic edge to Allen where he goes out and plays his usual, neurotic character but this time around, Allen makes sure that Harry is a guy that is truly unlikeable despite his attempt to become sympathetic.

If Allen's script is sharp in its uncompromising behavior, his directing reveals that bitterness in a strange, bizarre style. The story about Mel, the out-of-focus actor shows that everything is clear except Mel, who looks like a total blur. There's moments where the entire film deconstructs itself into revealing Harry's psyche. The script helps visualize Allen's distorted view of fact and fiction into a directing style that is truly arty where jump-cuts are used and his visual style recalls those he's been influenced by. It's truly a dark comedy that despite its intent and protagonist, is really funny. Helping Allen in his visual is the late Italian cinematographer Carlo di Palma in his final film collaboration with Allen who brings a wonderful look of New York City and the upper stare country area that recalls Bergman. Longtime editor Susan E. Morse also plays up to Allen's deconstructed style where the jump-cuts shows Harry's stumbling, neurotic world of reality.

Also helping out in Allen's visual department is production designer Santo Loquansto who not only does great work into visualizing the world of New York but the scene where Harry is in Hell is truly amazing. Using nothing but red, orange, and whatever you can think of is truly a great idea of what Hell could be from Harry's viewpoint. With the use of swing music in the background, it's really a nightmare of a man's temptations for women and pills coming true. The film's soundtrack is also great for its use of jazz and swing that plays to the film's very upbeat tone in its presentation while helping the film move along very easily.

The film's cast is probably the biggest ensemble that Allen has put out. With small yet wonderful appearances from the likes of Robert Harper, Philip Bosco, Stephanie Roth, Mariel Hemingway, Amy Irving, Julie Kavner, The Sopranos' Tony Sirico as a cop, Irving Metzman as Harvey's shoe salesman boss, Howard Spiegel as Joan's patient, Paul Giamatti, and Jennifer Garner in her film debut as Harry's fictional version of Fay. Hy Anzell and Shifra Lerer are funny as Harry's fictionalized version of his parents while Gene Saks is funny as Harry's father. Eric Lloyd is excellent as Harry's son Hilly who often questions about Harry's view into the world while Robin Williams is even funnier as Mel, the blurred actor. Caroline Aaron is also good as Harry's sympathetic but religious sister who questions Harry's approval while Eric Bogosian is excellent as Harry's moralistic brother-in-law. The worst performance of the entire movie is Kirstie Alley as Joan where Alley overacts in a scene when she confronts Harry about the affair with her shrill voice and anger that doesn't work. Alley can be funny but as a dramatic actress, she is horrible.

Faring way better as Alley's fictional counterpart is Demi Moore who brings a calm and funny performance as Helen while Stanley Tucci is also good as Harry's fictional counterpart Paul in that segment. Judy Davis is wonderful as Harry's hysterical and troubling sister-in-law who wants to kill him after the break-up of their tryst and his awful ways. Richard Benjamin is funny as Ken with his affairs and a scene where he reveals Harry about Lucy's anger while Julia-Louis Dreyfus is good as Davis's fictional counterpart. Tobey McGuire is also funny and good has the young Harry, Harvey who is just an awful kid who cares nothing but wanting to sleep with the next girl he can come across from. Bob Balaban is wonderful as Richard who seems to be the only friend that Harry has as he does a great job in his fear of having another heart attack while giving Harry some moral insight near the end. Elisabeth Shue is lovely as the loyal Fay who loves Harry but is aware of his life as a writer while she displays the rare warmth of the rest of female characters.

Billy Crystal is excellent as Harry's friend Larry who also plays the part of the Devil in a hilarious scene about the two dealing with their own sins. Hazelle Goodman is the film's best supporting performance as the hooker Cookie who doesn't care for Harry's flaws while she does everything he can to get him to be relaxed. Woody Allen is the film's best performance obviously because he's in his own movie. Allen displays all of his usual, neurotic, insecure artistic world as a character that often works. Here, Allen displays himself in his most abrasive performance yet as a guy who is a schmuck. He doesn't think of the damage he does to people and all he cares about is his work, pills, and wanting to fuck the next piece of ass he sees. It's a great performance from Allen who plays one of his most unlikeable characters while making him a funny protagonist.

Deconstructing Harry is a strange yet entertaining comedy from Woody Allen that features an amazing ensemble cast. While it's one of Allen's better films of the 1990s as well as his most abrasive in terms of dialogue. It's also a great re-telling of Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries where Allen gets a chance to pay tribute to one of his heroes. While it's a film that might take some Allen fans aback due to its content, there is still proof that Allen is able to take risks as a writer and filmmaker. In the end, Deconstructing Harry is a marvelous yet wild film from Woody Allen.

Woody Allen Films: What’s Up, Tiger Lily - Take the Money & Run - Bananas - Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask) - Sleeper - Love & Death - Annie Hall - Interiors - Manhattan - Stardust Memories - A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy - Zelig - Broadway Danny Rose - The Purple Rose of Cairo - Hannah & Her Sisters - Radio Days - September - Another Woman - New York Stories-Oedipus Wrecks - Crimes & Misdemeanors - Alice - Shadows & Fog - Husbands & Wives - Manhattan Murder Mystery - Don't Drink the Water - Bullets Over Broadway - Mighty Aphrodite - Everyone Says I Love You - Celebrity - Sweet & Lowdown - Small Time Crooks - The Curse of the Jade Scorpion - Hollywood Ending - Anything Else - Melinda & Melinda - Match Point - Scoop - Cassandra’s Dream - Vicky Cristina Barcelona - Whatever Works - You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger - Midnight in Paris - To Rome with Love - Blue Jasmine - Magic in the Moonlight - Irrational Man - (Cafe Society)

The Auteurs #24: Woody Allen: Pt. 1 - Pt. 2 - Pt. 3 - Pt. 4

© thevoid99 2011