Written and directed by Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton is the story of a law firm fixer who uncovers some dark truths about a client involved in a class action lawsuit that revolves around the effects of toxic chemicals. The film is a legal thriller that explores a man trying to seek out the truth as he is also dealing with forces that want to stop as the titular character played by George Clooney. Also starring Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, and Sydney Pollack. Michael Clayton is a riveting yet compelling film from Tony Gilroy.
The film follows a man whose job is to clean up messes for a law firm and handle things so that he can the job done and let the firm succeed and make whatever deal is need to be made. It’s a job he’s good at but it hasn’t done him a lot of favors personally or financially as the film has him dealing with a friend, who is a top attorney at the firm, who had made a chilling discovery in a lawsuit over toxic chemicals made by a company that he’s supposed to defend. Tony Gilroy’s screenplay opens with a sequence of what Michael Clayton does in his line of work but also the danger of his work. The narrative then shifts to what he was doing four days earlier as he is struggling to pay off debts of a restaurant he co-owns with his troubled younger brother as well as cleaning things up for his firm. Yet, Clayton also has to deal with the sudden mental breakdown of friend and top attorney Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson) during a deposition as Clayton would have a hard time trying to watch Edens.
Gilroy’s script also play into not just what Edens would discover but also play into the morality that Clayton would gain in what Edens discovers. Still, he has to hide Edens from this company who has sent their general counsel Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton) to handle things and to try and shut Edens down. Crowder is an interesting antagonist as someone who is also a fixer of sorts but is more ruthless in how she deals things. Yet, she is also someone that is just as troubled as she is first seen in the film exhausted while is also trying to be this embodiment of professionalism which is starting to take a toll on her. Once Clayton learn what Edens wants to unveil, it forces him to do what is right no matter how much it would put him into trouble. Especially with the people he’s worked for so many years.
Gilroy’s direction is very simple as he doesn’t go for anything stylish in favor of something that is straightforward. Shot on various locations in New York City and areas in upstate New York and Wisconsin, Gilroy would use some wide shots to establish some of the locations but he would aim for more intimate shots in the close-ups and medium shots to play into the drama. Especially in scenes where Clayton is talking to Edens about the latter’s mental condition as Gilroy creates moments that says a lot into what is happening where Edens isn’t just falling apart but is also seeking something that shows some good in the world. Gilroy also creates a world that is quite slick and unforgiving where there are often images of buildings as it would eventually become stifling for Clayton. Gilroy would also create moments that play into the suspense such as the scene of the car bomb and to show it again from a different perspective as it play into the forces that want Clayton gone. It shows how far some are willing to protect something they don’t want the public to hear all for something trivial as money and power. Overall, Gilroy creates a gripping and intoxicating film about a law firm’s clean-up man dealing with a mess that he knows that he can’t cover up.
Cinematographer Robert Elswit does excellent work with the cinematography from the way some of the scenes at night are lit to some of the scenes in the day that are quite natural including the car bomb scene. Editor John Gilroy does nice work with the editing as it very straightforward with a few jump-cuts to play into Crowder‘s own daily routine and rehearsing for her speeches. Production designer Kevin Thompson, with art director Clay Brown and a team of set decorators in Paul Cheponis, George DeTitta Jr., Christine Mayer, and Charles Potter, does fantastic work with the design of the offices as well as the apartment homes that the main characters live in as well as the home of Clayton‘s family in the suburbs.
Costume designer Sarah Edwards does nice work with the costumes as it‘s mostly low-key from the suits that the men wear as well as the clothes that Crowder wears and the clothes of the men she hires to do her dirty work. Sound editor Paul P. Soucek does terrific work with the sound as it play into many of the locations as well as a scene of Edens playing a tape over and over again to create something to blow the whistle on what he found. The film’s music by James Newton Howard is amazing for its low-key orchestral score that play into the drama as it also include some ambient-based electronic music that help add to the drama and suspense.
The casting by Ellen Chenoweth is great as it feature some notable small roles from Katherine Waterston as an aide of Clayton in Wisconsin, Austin Williams as Clayton’s son Henry, Sean Cullen as Clayton’s detective brother Gene, Denis O’Hare as a client Clayton deals with early in the film, David Lansbury as Clayton’s younger and recovering drug-addict brother Timmy, Terry Serpico and Robert Prescott as a couple of men Crowder hire to deal with Edens, and Ken Howard in a terrific performance as a company chief that Crowder is trying to protect. Michael O’Keefe is superb as Barry Grissom as a law firm executive that is trying to oversee the deal as he is someone that Clayton doesn’t like. Merritt Wever is fantastic as Anna as a young farm girl suing the company that she believed ruined her family farm and killed her parents.
Sydney Pollack is excellent as Clayton’s boss/friend in law firm partner Marty Bach as a man that is trying to keep things under wraps as well as be aware of the fact that the business of law is changing. Tilda Swinton is brilliant as Karen Crowder as a corporate general counsel that is trying to make sure that the settlement goes well as she is also dealing with the strain of her work. Tom Wilkinson is amazing as Arthur Edens as a senior litigator with bipolar disorder that would unravel mentally as he copes with the task he’s being forced to do as well as make a discovery that would impact everything. Finally, there’s George Clooney in a phenomenal performance as the titular character as a fixer who cleans up messes for his law firm as he deals with the mental breakdown of a friend as well as making a major discovery where Clooney is quite reserved in his performance but also someone who is conflicted in wanting to do what is right.
Michael Clayton is a remarkable film from Tony Gilroy that features an incredible performance from George Clooney in the titular role. Along with a great supporting cast that include top-notch performances from Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, and Sydney Pollock as well as a well-crafted script. It’s a film that play into the legal world and what some will do in the name of greed and power. In the end, Michael Clayton is a marvelous film from Tony Gilroy.
Tony Gilroy Films: (Duplicity) - (The Bourne Legacy)
© thevoid99 2017
Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 6/4/08 w/ Additional Edits & Revisions.
Directed by Sydney Pollack and written by Larry Gelbart, Murray Schisgal, and Don McGuire with additional contributions from Barry Levinson, Robert Garland, and Elaine May. Tootsie tells the story of Michael Dorsey, an actor who is brilliant but extremely difficult as he tries to raise money for a play he co-wrote. Realizing that no one will hire him after his friend lost a huge part, he decides to play the part in a TV soap opera by dressing as a woman. During this time, he battles a sexist director while falling for one of his co-stars as well as attracting the attention of men. Starring Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman, Charles Durning, George Gaynes, Sydney Pollack, Geena Davis, Doris Belack, and Bill Murray. Tootsie is a brilliant, funny, sweet comedy that shows how a man becomes a better man as a woman.
What happens when a brilliant but difficult actor who can't get work when he decides to dress up as a woman to get a role for a TV soap opera? That is essentially the premise of the film as it is a mixture of comedy and romance where it all centers around the character of Michael Dorsey (Dustin Hoffman) who is a very gifted actor but is always difficult as the last job he got was playing a tomato for a commercial. He also helps out other actors where one of his friends in Sandy (Teri Garr) got turned down in an audition to play a role in the daytime soap opera Southwest General where Michael dresses up as a woman to get the part. With only his roommate Jeff Slater (Bill Murray) and his agent George Fields (Sydney Pollack) know the truth, Michael becomes a hit in the show despite having to deal with a sexist TV director (Dabney Coleman) while helping out an aging lead actor (George Gaynes) and falling for one of his co-stars in Julie Nichols (Jessica Lange). Throughout the course of the film, Michael Dorsey not only learns how to be a better man but also find out more about what it means to be a woman.
The film's script is a mix of romance, comedy, and light-hearted drama where it acts as a genre-bender but it is rooted in its comedy genre. What makes this film so brilliant is a funny, witty script that is filled with lot of light-hearted humor and dialogue, improvisation, and characters that audiences can relate to and root for. The script written by Larry Gelbart and Murray Schisgal is truly wonderful in how a brilliant but out-of-work actor is so desperate for work to raise money for his own play. He'll even dress up like a woman to get the role only to fall for a woman while realizing that being a woman makes him a better man in understanding them. The film is also in some strange way, a feminist film as Michael Dorsey makes Dorothy Michaels into a feminist of sorts. Particularly in one scene where she is acting on the TV show to a character playing an abused woman. Michaels' point of view about things makes her into a feminist character who helps women stand up for themselves and such.
While the script works as a part-feminist film with a man playing the feminist, it's still a comedy but also a romantic-comedy in the storyline between Michael/Dorothy and Julie. When Michael is being himself in a scene with Julie, he acts like a jerk but as Dorothy, he acts as her close friend as he gets a sense of understanding in being a woman. This is where Sydney Pollack's direction is at its brilliance in building up the relationship between Michael/Dorothy and Julie while allowing the audience to get to know its supporting characters including Julie's father Les (Charles Durning) who falls for Dorothy. With Pollack's background in television and theater, he explores the world of acting through its different forms. Both TV and theater as the character of Michael uses his skills to play to both mediums. Pollack's presentation of the TV soap format is very realistic in how the director and producer work around everything and how the actors rehearse and read their lines.
The sense of improvisation and looseness is also key to Pollack's direction as he lets the comedy flow naturally while not go way into silly, slapstick humor. Allowing the actors including himself, to say funny lines and be in character while letting the audience feel relaxed and giving them a good time. The result is truly superb as Pollack's direction is truly top-notch and smoothly entertaining.
Cinematographer Owen Roizman does a good job with the film's look with his polished yet colorful camera work to show the style of lighting for TV soaps and such while the shots of the exterior of New York City is wonderful to look at. Editors Fredric and William Steinkamp do an excellent job with the film's pacing and cutting style that is smooth and relaxing to play to the film's unique tone. Production designer Peter S. Larkin and set decorator Thomas C. Tonery do a fantastic job with the looks of the different apartments of Michael and Julie as well as the set designs of the soap opera set they created. Costume designer Ruth Morley and supervisor Bernie Pollack do a fantastic job with the film's costumes. Particularly on the dresses that Dustin Hoffman wears as well as the clothes of the cast for the soap opera.
Sound recordist Phillips Rogers does a fine job with the film's sound including the atmosphere of TV production and such. The film's music by Dave Grusin is bouncy and melodic as it leans towards the sound of soft rock. Yet, Grusin along with noted lyricists Alan & Marilyn Bergman create two memorable songs for the film both sung by Stephen Bishop. The upbeat title song and the love ballad It Might Be You, the latter of which was a hit song that works for the film's light-hearted romantic tone.
The cast assembled by Toni Howard and Lynn Stalmaster is excellent as it features small appearances from the likes of Estelle Getty, Ellen Foley, and Christine Ebersole plus cameo appearances from Andy Warhol and a then-unknown Marg Helgenberger. Memorable small performances from Amy Lawrence as Julie's daughter, Anne Shropshire as Amy's scary nanny, and the late Lynn Thigpen as Carlisle's assistant director. Doris Belack is great as the show's producer Rita Marshall who hires Dorothy on the spot while convinced that the show's success and increased ratings is all due to her. In her film debut, Geena Davis is good as a young actress who first appear in her underwear as she makes Dorothy a bit nervous while being one of the women Ron is having an affair with. George Gaynes is wonderfully funny as an aging actor who is forced to read his line through cue cards and such as Dorothy gives him confidence as he also falls for her. Sydney Pollack is great in his cameo as agent George Fields who has some of the funniest lines as Michael's agent who keeps telling him that no one will work with him.
Dabney Coleman is excellent as the sexist TV director Ron Carlise who likes to sleep around with other women and treat Julie inferior to him as he dukes it out with Dorothy Michaels. Charles Durning is brilliant in his charming role as Julie's father Les who tries to woo Dorothy while showing a softer side as a man longing for love since the death of his wife a long time ago. Teri Garr is great in her role as the insecure Sandy, a struggling actress who has a hard time getting a role only to duped by Michael's own flirtations as she finally gains confidence as an actress. Bill Murray is amazingly funny as Jeff Slater, Michael's laid-back roommate who knows what Michael is doing as Murray has some of the funniest one-liners film with his deadpan delivery that is Murray in classic form. Then there's Jessica Lange in an Oscar-winning performance as Julie Nichols. Lange's understated, graceful performance is a wonderful mix of beauty and depth as a young actress struggling to be a single mom and juggling an unhappy relationship as she gains confidence with help from Dorothy on her life as a woman. Lange, often seen as a pretty face, proves her talents as an actress in which, she wins her first Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
Finally, there's Dustin Hoffman in one of his iconic performances as both Michael Dorsey and Dorothy Michaels. Hoffman's performance as Dorsey is brilliant for someone who is trying to be a total professional and artist who can't catch a break only to understand what women are. Hoffman as Michaels is a character full of charm and attitude as it's a brilliant performance-within-a performance that just knock the walls down. Hoffman is truly amazing from start to finish from the early scene of him acting various characters like an old man to a boy that shows his superb talents as one of cinema' finest actors.
Tootsie is a magnificent film from Sydney Pollack thanks to Dustin Hoffman's incredible leading performance. Along with Jessica Lange's touching supporting performance as well as other memorable performances from Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman, Charles Durning, and Bill Murray. The film is definitely one of the finest comedies of the genre as well as engaging for the way an actor whose desperation to find work has him getting a better understanding of what it means to be a man by pretending to be a woman. In the end, Tootsie is a spectacular film from Sydney Pollack.
Sydney Pollock Films: (The Slender Thread) - (The Property is Condemned) - (The Scalphunters) - (Castle Keep) - They Shoot Horses, Don't They? - (Jeremiah Johnson) - (The Way We Were) - (The Yakuza) - (Three Days of the Condor) - (Bobby Deerfield) - (The Electric Horseman) - (Absence of Malice) - (Out of Africa) - (Havana) - (The Firm) - (Sabrina (1995 film)) - (Random Hearts) - (The Interpreter) - (Sketches of Frank Gehry) - (Amazing Grace (2018 film))
© thevoid99 2013
Written, directed, and starring Woody Allen, Husbands and Wives is the story about a couple’s marriage disintegrating following the announcement of their friends’ decision to divorce. The film explores the world of relationships coming to an end where people go into a journey to find new loves and such as the film would mark Allen’s final collaboration with Mia Farrow after a decade of 12 films in total. Also starring Sydney Pollack, Judy Davis, Liam Neeson, Lysette Anthony, and Juliette Lewis. Husbands and Wives is a provocative yet mesmerizing film from Woody Allen.
The film is a look into the world of marriage and relationships where a couple’s break-up forces another couple to face their own marriage as issues are eventually raised where it leads to certain things about themselves. It’s a film that explores the highs and lows of marriage and relationships as this couple in Jack (Sydney Pollack) and Sally (Judy Davis) have called it quits where both of them seek new lives individually while revelations are unveiled into why they decided to call it quits. For their friends Gabe and Judy Roth (Woody Allen and Mia Farrow), the news of Jack and Sally’s separation definitely brings a reaction where Gabe finds himself intrigued by a 20-year old student named Rain (Juliette Lewis) while Judy tries to set Sally up with her co-worker Michael (Liam Neeson) as Judy tries to deal with her feelings for Michael.
Woody Allen’s screenplay has a narrative that moves back-and-forth where it features the voice of a narrator played by Allen’s longtime costume designer Jeffrey Kurland. The narration plays into these dissolving relationships while characters are seen talking to a documentary film crew as if they’re in a therapy session about themselves and their reaction towards disintegrating relationships. Allen’s approach to his man characters are very unique as they’re all interesting individuals who are also very flawed. Sally is sort of very frigid as she doesn’t seem to be interested in sex and thinks the reason men lose interest in women because they age. Jack is a man who is looking for excitement in his life as Sally couldn’t provide it but a brief tryst with a hooker (Cristi Conaway) and a post-split relationship with an aerobics trainer named Sam (Lysette Anthony).
Eventually, Sally’s relationship with Michael and Jack’s time with Sam would create problems while Gabe and Judy’s relationship would start to disintegrate. Notably as Gabe is a revered novelist/college professor who is often accused of being very critical making Judy feel insecure as Judy herself is a very passive-aggressive person who always get what she wants as she is more affected by Jack and Sally’s break-up. The break-up would play into Judy’s moods where Gabe wants to make love to her at odd times as she’s often confused and flighty leaving Gabe frustrated as he becomes interested in his student Rain who is very smart and is talented in the art of writing. Yet, it would later play into the many confusions about what Gabe and Judy wants and what will happen to them.
Allen’s direction definitely recalls elements of cinema verite where he presents the film in a mixture of documentary with this very loose approach to drama. Notably as many of the film’s dramatic segments are shot in a hand-held style that features elements of the French New Wave where Allen just lets the camera shoot everything as if it’s all happening. It’s a very stripped-down approach for Allen where he wants to capture some semblance of realism in the drama. Especially in the way Allen let the actors act out their frustrations and anger where the dialogue is very frank and confrontational as the camera plays to that intensity. There’s a lot of moments in Allen’s direction where plays into that style while keeping this more simple for the film’s documentary segments where they are reveal but also poignant. Notably in the end where it plays to not just the realities of marriage but also people in what they bring into the relationship. Overall, Allen creates a very compelling and engaging film about relationships and their fallicies.
Cinematographer Carlo Di Palma does brilliant work with the film‘s colorful cinematography to play up the look of the some of the film‘s interiors and exteriors where it has this sense of realism but also a bit of style. Editor Susan E. Morse does fantastic work with the editing where it does play into a sense of style with its use of jump-cuts to capture the energy of the drama. Production designer Santo Loquasto, with set decorator Susan Bode and art director Speed Hopkins, does nice work with the set pieces from the look of the homes the character lives in to some of the places they go to.
Costume designer Jeffrey Kurland does terrific work with the costumes as it‘s mostly casual with the exception of Rain whose youthful clothing play into her personality. Sound editor Robert Hein does excellent work with the sound to play up that sense of realism in the dialogue and scenes set on location. The film’s music soundtrack mostly features some jazz standards and classical music where most of it is played on location to create the realism in the film.
The casting by Juliet Taylor is amazing for the ensemble that is created as it features appearances from Blythe Danner and Brian McConnachie as Rain’s parents, Ron August and John Bucher as a couple of Rain’s former older lovers, Ron Rifkin as Rain’s analyst who fell for her, Benno Schmidt as Judy’s first husband who is interviewed about Judy, and Cristi Conaway as a call-girl Jack briefly hooks up with in the final days of his marriage to Sally. Lysette Anthony is terrific as Jack’s new girlfriend Sam as this young and beautiful aerobics trainer who is full of energy though she isn’t a very smart woman. Liam Neeson is excellent as Judy’s co-worker Michael who goes into a relationship with Sally as he falls for her unaware of Judy’s attraction towards him. Juliette Lewis is wonderful as the student Rain as a young woman who loves Gabe’s work as she reads his manuscripts where her opinion proves to be very strong making Gabe more attractive to her.
Sydney Pollack is superb as Jack as a man seeking for some adventure in his life while admitting about his frustrations towards Sally as he eventually comes to terms with the fact that he might’ve not made the right decision. Judy Davis is brilliant as Sally as a woman who is upset over what Jack did to her as she tries to move on with her life while having a hard time finding herself sexually. Mia Farrow is great as Judy Roth as a woman shocked by Jack and Sally’s split as she starts to question about her own marriage as she finds herself attracted to Michael as it’s definitely Farrow’s best work with Allen. Finally, there’s Woody Allen in a marvelous performance as Gabe Roth as a man going into a journey of his own about himself as he becomes attracted to Rain while dealing with the issues in his own marriage.
Husbands and Wives is a remarkable film from Woody Allen that features amazing performances from Mia Farrow, Judy Davis, Sydney Pollack, Liam Neeson, and Juliette Lewis. The film is definitely one of the most intriguing portraits about marriage and relationships where all of the things talked about in marriage is real as does the sense of temptation to stray. In the end, Husbands and Wives is a phenomenal 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 and Death - Annie Hall - Interiors - Manhattan - Stardust Memories - A Midsummer's Night 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 - Manhattan Murder Mystery - Don’t Drink the Water - Bullets Over Broadway - Mighty Aphrodite - Everyone Says I Love You - Deconstructing Harry - 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 2013
Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 3/17/07 w/ Additional Edits.
Directed by Robert Altman and written by Michael Tolkin that was based on his novel, The Player is about a Hollywood executive who thinks he's being blackmailed by a screenwriter over a rejected script as he accidentally kills the man leading to all sorts of trouble. The film explores the world of Hollywood and the film industry itself about how they run things. With a cast that included 60 cameos, the film stars Tim Robbins, Greta Scacchi, Whoopi Goldberg, Lyle Lovett, Cynthia Stevenson, Richard E. Grant, Fred Ward, Peter Gallagher, Brion James, Vincent D'Onofrio, and Sydney Pollock. Plus, appearances by many, many, many, many actors, writers, producers, and directors. The Player is a witty yet entertaining satire Robert Altman.
Working as a studio exec, Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins) is a mover and shaker who hears writers and directors making pitch after pitch. Among them is director Alan Rudolph and another is writer Buck Henry who is pitching an idea for a sequel to The Graduate that he wrote. Surrounded by the likes of people including his girlfriend and story editor Bonnie (Cynthia Stevenson), Griffin seems to be the man in line to replace his boss Joel Levison (Brion James) as the studio head. Then came Larry Levy (Peter Gallagher) who has left Fox to join the studio and is now becoming the likely replacement. Mill's mentor Dick Mellon (Sydney Pollack) suggest to try and make moves and get Levy as an ally. Making things worse for Mill is a series of mysterious postcards he's been getting from a disgruntled writer whose screenplay he has rejected. Talking with his head of security in Walter Stuckel (Fred Ward), he finds the name of a writer he rejected named David Kahane (Vincent D'Onofrio).
Going to his address home, he finds a Icelandic woman named June Gudmundsdottir (Greta Scacchi) painting the house where he calls her from his mobile phone where they have a conversation and Kahane's whereabouts. He finds Kahane at a screening for Vittorio de Sica's The Bicycle Thief where the two have a conversation about endings and the script that Mill rejected about Kahane's life as a student in Japan. After an argument in a parking lot, the two have a fight where Mill accidentally kills Kahane. The next day, the news of Kahane's murder is all over Hollywood as Stuckel interrogates Mill about what had happened. After attending a funeral for Kahane, Mill meets June who finds herself out of place in the funeral as Mill learns he is being followed by a man named DeLongpre (Lyle Lovett). Mill is then investigated by a detective from Pasadena named Susan Avery (Whoopi Goldberg) who is charmed by Mill and his knowledge of film.
After getting away from an investigation, Mill receives another letter where he realizes that he killed the wrong man. The letters continue where Mill receives comfort from June as he decides to meet the man who sent him the letters. Unfortunately, he never meets him and instead, meets a British director named Tom Oakley (Richard E. Grant) and his co-writer Andy Civella (Dean Stockwell) about a film called Habeas Corpus. The pitch is successful despite the fact that it's against everything that Hollywood has been known for. Mill takes Oakley's pitch to Levy who decides to make it into his project despite the fact that they're not going into the traditional Hollywood format. After going into another investigation with Avery and meets DeLongpre, Mill learns that he's a suspect and he's being ridiculed after DeLongpre mentions Tod Browning's Freaks. Hoping to make an escape from everything, Mill takes a vacation to Mexico with June as he awaits his own fate.
While Hollywood is looked at as a place where risk isn't worth taking, Robert Altman is aware of how cruel the film industry can be. Despite Altman's cynicism, he choose to make Hollywood's slick world and turn it upside down to see how it works and how absurd it is. Altman and writer Michael Tolkin aren't making fun of it but reveal how the industry had changed from the Golden Age of Hollywood and the 1970s to the more commercial, blockbuster-driven 1980s and early 1990s. There's moments where Walter Stuckel talks about how the MTV-editing style has really ruined films while talking about Touch of Evil by Orson Welles where it had an opening, one-take, eight-minute sequence. Altman does the same thing to convey that style while he also reveals Hollywood's cynicism about reality and their idea for the happy ending which is totally Hollywood.
The film is really about this individual who is a mover-and-shaker of Hollywood who is confronted by a mysterious writer who is angry over rejection. When he meets Kahane, they discuss about the endings of Hollywood and art films. Griffin Mill is the protagonist but a villain as well. Yet, Mill is a character audience is supposed to hate because he hates writers for their demand to have control. Still, Mill is a character whose charm and personality is so winning, it's hard to hate a guy like that. While Altman chose to focus on this shady character like Mill, he makes Mill the driving force of this story about Hollywood and how they work.
Then comes the ending which is both ambiguous and ironic. Particularly on what the whole conflict of what is discussed during the movie. Altman makes the ending work for its humor as well as his approach by adding the same Altman-esque sense of improvisation and overlapping dialogue where the cameo appearances from actors have their moment expressing their frustration and excitements over films. The result is truly an entertaining and witty film from the late, great Robert Altman.
Cinematographer Jean Lepine does some excellent camerawork that's mostly done in a documentary-like style with no flashy photography or anything stylish. Altman's son and longtime production designer Stephen Altman and art director Jerry Fleming do amazing work in capturing the posh, slick look of Hollywood and the arty home of June. Costume designer Alexander Julian also does excellent work in creating the suits and clothing of the studio executives as well as the flowing clothes of June. Altman's longtime editor, the late Geraldine Peroni along with Maysie Hoy does excellent work in the editing to shift sequence to sequence while going into perspective cuts to convey the sense of atmosphere in the studios as well as that one-take opening sequence. Sound editor Michael P. Redbourn does some fine work in the film's sound to reveal the sense of tension of some of the film's suspenseful sequences. Music composer Thomas Newman brings a wonderfully melodic and suspenseful score to some of the film's suspense while adding a lot of playful melodies for the rest of the film.
Then there's the cast that is filled with many cameos that it's really up to the viewer to see who is there and such. Smaller performances from Gina Gershon, Jeremy Piven, and Randall Batinkoff as the young executives are wonderful with Dina Merrill as head assistant Celia and Angela Hall as Mill's secretary Jan. The late Brion James is excellent as the old yet wise Joel Levison while Peter Gallagher is great as the smarmy, slick Larry Levy. Lyle Lovett is great as the mysterious DeLongpre whose mysterious presence and motives only reveal the humor in the film Freaks.
Whoopi Goldberg is great as the detective Susan Avery who is charmed by Mill but also counters his charm in wanting to close a case while has a great line during a witness scene. Sydney Pollock is excellent in a small role as Mill's longtime advisor who cautions him on what to do with his career and how to deal with everything else that could affect it. Fred Ward is wonderfully funny as the security chief who loves the old film noir and detective stories of the 1940s and 1950s while revealing his disgust towards the films of the 1980s.
Dean Stockwell and Richard E. Grant are wonderfully funny as the writers of a film with Grant as the director who reveal their intentions while having a funny scene of telling Andie MacDowell not to go to Montana in reference to the film Heaven's Gate. Cynthia Stevenson is great as the moralistic girlfriend of Mill in Bonnie, who seems like the only person in the film that tries to do the right thing. Especially in the film's ending when she's forced to see a film that's changed and doesn't fit in with what Hollywood wants.
Vincent D'Onofrio is great as the frustrated yet brilliant David Kahane whose hatred for studios and Hollywood reveal the talents and how Hollywood has little time for talent and more for marketing and money. Greta Scacchi is excellent as the arty yet sweet June who doesn't understand anything about David and feels more in line in what Mill wants as Scacchi is the perfect leading lady for Mill. Finally, there's Tim Robbins in one of his great performances as the sleazy yet charming Griffin Mill. Though Robbins is playing a very devious villain, he manages to make the character likeable enough without a lot of emotions as he's just an asshole who just wants to make money and be a player. It's a great performance from Tim Robbins.
The Player is a fantastic film from Robert Altman that features a marvelous performance from Tim Robbins. The film isn't just a very funny take on the world of Hollywood but also in the way it shows a world as cruel as Hollywood. It's also a very rich ensemble piece that features a lot of funny references to the world of film. In the end, The Player is a brilliant film from Robert Altman.
Robert Altman Films: (The Delinquents) - (The James Dean Story) - Countdown (1968 film) - (That Cold Day in the Park) - M.A.S.H. - Brewster McCloud - McCabe & Mrs. Miller - (Images) - The Long Goodbye - Thieves Like Us - California Split - Nashville - Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson - 3 Women - (A Wedding) - (Quintet) - (A Perfect Couple) - (HealtH) - Popeye - (Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean) - (Streamers) - (Secret Honor) - (O.C. and Stiggs) - Fool for Love - (Beyond Therapy) - (Aria-Les Boreades) - (Tanner ‘88) - (Vincent & Theo) - Short Cuts - Pret-a-Porter - (Kansas City) - (The Gingerbread Man) - Cookie’s Fortune - Dr. T & the Women - Gosford Park - The Company (2003 film) - (Tanner on Tanner) - A Prairie Home Companion
© thevoid99 2013
Based on Arthur Schnitzler’s novella Dream Story, Eyes Wide Shut is the story of a doctor who learned about his wife’s desire to stray from their marriage as he goes into a night-long adventure where he encounters all sorts of things including a secretive ceremony that nearly gets him into big trouble. Directed by Stanley Kubrick and screenplay by Kubrick and Frederic Raphael, the film is an exploration into the world of marriage and sex as a couple face their devotion when one reveals the desire to be with someone else. Starring Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Todd Field, Marie Richardson, Vinessa Shaw, Leelee Sobieski, Rade Serbedzija, Alan Cumming, Thomas Gibson, Julienne Davis, Sky du Mont, and Sydney Pollack. Eyes Wide Shut is an evocative yet hypnotic drama from Stanley Kubrick.
Dr. Bill and Alice Halford (Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman) attend the party of their friend Victor Ziegler (Sydney Pollack) where Alice flirts with a Hungarian (Sky du Mont) while Bill chats with his old friend Nick Nightingale (Todd Field) while he is being hit on by two models. Later that night, Bill is called by Victor to deal with the overdose of a young woman (Julienne Davis) he was having sex with as Bill took care of things. The next night while smoking pot in their bedroom, Bill and Alice have a heated discussion about infidelity where Alice if Bill would’ve slept with those women as he says no. Alice then reveals about a fantasy she had about a naval officer she encountered last summer that disturbs Bill who then leaves after getting a call about a death of one of his friends. Bill goes to the home where he meets the man’s daughter Marion (Marie Richardson) who professes her love to Bill as she tries to kiss until her fiancee Carl (Thomas Gibson) arrives.
Still uneasy about Alice’s confession, Bill goes on a walk around Greenwich Village in New York City where he encounters a young hooker named Domino (Vinessa Shaw) and later goes to a jazz club where Nick was playing. Bill and Nick chat where Nick reveals about a secret gig that he has to play blindfold as he wrote “Fidelio” as the password and reluctantly revealed to Bill about the location. Bill then goes to a closed costume shop now run by a new owner named Milich (Rade Serbedzija) who gives him the costume while dealing with a couple of Japanese men who were with his teenage daughter (Leelee Sobieski). After traveling away from New York City to a reclusive estate, a masked Bill finds himself in a strange underworld full of orgies and other quasi-religious rituals as a woman tries to warn him to leave. Instead, the woman offers to sacrifice herself to spare Bill from further trouble as he returns home where Alice had woken up from a nightmare that disturbed her.
Bill goes to Nick’s hotel to ask him what happened only for a hotel clerk (Alan Cumming) to reveal that Nick was taken away with a bruise in his face. Things get stranger when Bill returns his costume to Milich without the mask that he lost where things get weirder as Bill notices he’s being followed. Later that night while working, Bill goes to Domino’s apartment where he meets her roommate (Fay Masterson) who reveals some startling news about her. Things get darker when Bill learns about a model dead from an overdose as he goes to the morgue where he learns who she is. After getting a call from Victor, Bill gets some startling news about the events that he had went through in the past few days as he begins to ponder the strange adventure he had just been through.
The film is essentially an exploration into the dangers of marriage and the idea of how jealousy can drive someone to do something in the heat of passion. In this film, it is about a man who goes into a journey one night around New York City after being disturbed by his wife’s confession about thinking from straying from their marriage. After some strange encounters with various individuals, he goes into a secret ceremony that is held by secretive people only to realize he’s stepped into somewhere he shouldn’t have gone into as it forces him to reflect on his own feelings of marriage as well as the fact that he might not have been honest to his wife after all. It’s a film that contains a lot of ambiguities and complications about marriage and infidelity as well as jealousy driven by this couple who do love each other but are compelled to ask big questions by their faithfulness.
The screenplay by Stanley Kubrick and Frederic Raphael is quite conventional in terms of a traditional narrative structure but it is filled with a lot of ambiguities and themes about marriage. The first act is about Ziegler’s party where both Bill and Alice encounter people who flirt with them where Alice seems to enjoy herself though Bill tries to play cool only to help deal with Ziegler. Then it is followed by a montage of their daily activities where they later smoke pot the next evening and have this discussion about marriage where Alice asked if Bill is ever jealous. Bill is being cagey about being jealous and acts very smugly about the idea of Alice not cheating on him. Instead, her revelation would send him into an emotional tailspin that leads to the film’s second act.
The second is about Bill’s odyssey into the unknown from the encounters he makes with women who tries to seduce him such as a friend’s daughter, a young hooker, and a promiscuous teenage girl while he would also meet that girl’s father, an old friend, and encounter a bunch of drunk college kids who mistake him for being gay. Then Bill’s journey goes into a dark, suspenseful turn once he enters this very exclusive underworld filled with sexual rituals, orgies, and very strange things that occur where he finds himself in great danger. He returns home only to go further into a path of the unknown in the third act as Bill wonders about the journey he had previously taken as well as the fact that it involved people he knew as it forces him to ask big questions about himself and his wife.
It’s a script that is filled with some very frank yet realistic dialogue on not just about marriage and jealousy but also the idea that one would stray from their marriage just to make the other person jealous. Yet, both Bill and Alice do take each other for granted in the fact that Bill doesn’t seem to pay enough attention to Alice and the fact that Alice doesn’t seem to appreciate Bill enough. Both characters are very flawed as they both deal with the rules of marriage and each go into their own adventures. For Alice, it’s in her dreams while Bill goes into something much darker where both of them realize what they have to do to stay together.
Kubrick’s direction definitely bears a lot of the visual trademarks and cinematic style that he’s known for. Notably the tracking dolly shots, gazing close-ups, eerie medium and wide shots, and slow zooms to help maintain the sense of drama that occurs. Yet, there’s also a lot of elements that Kubrick brings to the film that feels fresh and new for the fact that it takes place in a world where it is contemporary but also with a sense of something that feels more 19th Century due to the Venetian masks that are worn at the secret society party. One element of the film that is very unique that plays into Bill’s journey is the fact he walks around the world of New York City.
Even though it’s shot in London and some of it on a soundstage with some second unit work providing scenes actually shot in New York City along with backdrops in some scenes in the car. It’s not really the New York City that most people know but rather a surrealistic idea of New York City since Bill is in a world where he’s lost and disturbed by his wife’s revelations. The people he meets during this journey are definitely off as they don’t really play to any kind of conventions. A young hooker who lives nearby as she doesn’t exude any of the usual traits. A costume shop owner with a teenager daughter who is very promiscuous. Then things get even weirder where it’s almost as if Bill is living in a dream world that isn’t just off but also unlike any kind of reality that is out there.
He goes inside this very exclusive place where it’s later revealed to be a place that only the elite can be part of. It’s a world where it’s almost this very religious ritual where people are in tuxedos, wearing cloaks, covering their faces with Venetian masks, and do things as if there were no rules. There’s orgies where there’s a lot of happening though Kubrick doesn’t go too far in terms of sexual content. Still, he maintains that sense of mystery that does occur in the third act as well as creating some very chilling moments in the sexual fantasy scenes involving Alice and the naval officer that plays inside Bill’s head. Things become more intense by the film’s third that includes this amazing climatic meeting between Bill and Victor where it is about what Bill encountered. Kubrick maintains the ambiguity in Victor’s exposition where he could be telling the truth from his view but is anything he saying is true?
This is then followed by more revelations as it returns to the story of Bill and Alice where it seems that both of them had just had a major wakeup call not just about themselves but their marriage. It seems like everything they had been through was just a dream as they both would have these major encounters about a life that was filled with rules and no rules. The film’s ending is really the culmination of everything Bill and Alice had gone through and them ready to take a major step into their lives. Overall, Stanley Kubrick creates a film that is very provocative but also entrancing film about the world of marriage and temptation.
Cinematographer Larry Smith does incredible work with the film‘s lush and intoxicating photography from the usage of available light to create beautiful scenes for many of the film‘s interiors at night to the more darker scenes in the streets as Smith‘s work is a major highlight of the film. Editor Nigel Galt does excellent work with the editing from the use of dissolves for the transitions as well as a few montages for Bill‘s look into Alice‘s fantasy as well as other stylish cuts to play out the mood of the film. Production designers Leslie Tomkins and Roy Walker, along with supervising art director Kevin Phipps and set decorators Lisa Leone and Terry Wells, do amazing work with the sets such as the look of the world of Greenwich Village as well as the places Bill encounters including the elusive estate that he visits.
Costume designer Marit Allen does wonderful work with the costumes from the look of the cloaks and tuxedos the characters wear to the clothes that Alice wears as well as the look of the Venetian masks. Sound editor Paul Conway does superb work with the sound from the way some of the dialogue is heard in Bill‘s head as well as the atmosphere in some of the locations including the exotic party that he attends. The film’s music consists of various classical pieces from the waltz theme by Dmitri Shotstakovich that opens the film to the more striking, suspenseful piano pieces of Gyorgy Ligeti. Original music by Jocelyn Pook is very ominous as it is played largely in the ritual scenes to maintain the eerie tone of the film. The rest of the soundtrack consists of jazz renditions of love songs along with some opera pieces and a playful rock song by Chris Isaak.
The casting by Denise Chaiman and Leon Vitali is brilliant for the ensemble that is created as it features some noteworthy small performances from Madison Eginton as Bill and Alice’s daughter Helena, Louise J. Taylor as one of the models who flirts with Bill at the party, Julienne Davis as Ziegler’s mistress Mandy, Togo Igawa and Eiji Kusuhara as the two Japanese men at the costume shop, Fay Masterson as Domino’s roommate Sally, Gary Goba as the naval officer that Alice fantasizes about, and Leon Vitali as mysterious Master of Ceremonies at the strange ritual that Bill attends. Other notable small roles includes Sky du Mont as the dashing Hungarian that Alice flirts with, Vinessa Shaw as the hooker Domino that Bill encounters, Rade Serbedzija as the costume shop owner Milich, Leelee Sobieski as Milich’s promiscuous teenage daughter, Alan Cumming as the hotel clerk, and Thomas Gibson as Marion’s fiancee Carl.
Marie Richardson is terrific as the daughter of Bill’s patient who tries to seduce Bill through her grief while Todd Field is great as Bill’s friend Nick Nightingale who unknowingly gets himself and Bill into trouble over the secret ritual party. Sydney Pollack is excellent as Bill’s friend Victor Ziegler who tries to assure Bill about everything that Bill had encountered in his journey. Finally, there’s the duo of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman as both of them give incredible performances as Bill and Alice Halford. Kidman displays a lot of charisma and drama as a woman who feels like her husband doesn’t respect her enough as well as someone who feels guilty about some of her revelations. Cruise gives a chilling performance as a man who is a bit aloof about the idea of him being jealous only to embark into a dark journey that has him thinking about himself and his own flaws. Cruise and Kidman together are wonderful together in the way they interact as well as display the kind of tension in marriage as both of them give remarkable performances.
Eyes Wide Shut is an incredible yet entrancing film from Stanley Kubrick that features superb performances from Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. While it is a film that dares to ask big questions about marriage as well as infidelity and other big themes. It is a very intriguing film that explores that world as well as a film that features exotic visuals and intoxicating music that bears a lot of Kubrick’s trademarks. In the end, Eyes Wide Shut is a tremendous and grand final film from Stanley Kubrick.
Stanley Kubrick Films: Fear and Desire - Killer's Kiss - The Killing - Paths of Glory - Spartacus - Lolita - Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb - 2001: A Space Odyssey - A Clockwork Orange - Barry Lyndon - The Shining - Full Metal Jacket
Related: Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures - The Auteurs #18: Stanley Kubrick
© thevoid99 2012
Directed by Jan Harlan, Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures is a documentary film about the life and works of one of cinema’s revered and controversial filmmakers of the 20th Century. With narration by Tom Cruise, the film explores the films that Kubrick has made in his career as well as the controversy he had received for each one. With filmmakers like Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Alex Cox, Alan Parker, Sydney Pollack, and Woody Allen providing insight about his work. The film also features interviews with Kubrick’s wife Christiane Kubrick as well as people and collaborators who appeared in his films like Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Jack Nicholson, Matthew Modine, Peter Ustinov, and Malcolm McDowell. The result is a fascinating documentary on one of cinema’s great filmmakers.
The documentary is balanced between the works of Stanley Kubrick as well as a look into his very private personal life that he had been guarding for so many years. Through Tom Cruise’s calm yet insightful narration, the film explores many aspect of Kubrick’s life including his childhood and his days when he worked as a photographer for Look magazine. While there’s not a lot of discussion of his early shorts with the exception of Day of the Fight, there are some discussion about his feature film work from Fear and Desire to Eyes Wide Shut.
While it is no surprise that many of his collaborators and the actors who appeared in his films will admit that Kubrick is difficult. Many of them reveal that a lot of the stories about Kubrick’s eccentricities and his meticulous detail where some of which were exaggerated by the press. There were more funnier eccentricities about the way he leaves notes to his family about taking care of pets. The film also features rare footage of Kubrick as a child as well as his family life with his wife Christiane and their children as his daughters discuss many of Kubrick’s persona as well as the fact that he didn’t like to do a lot of press coverage or be in the spotlight. One of them did reveal that just before the release of Eyes Wide Shut, Kubrick was planning to do a few interviews just to set things straight about what had been said about him.
The documentary also reveals a few things about the unrealized projects that Kubrick had wanted to work on. One was a bio-pic on Napoleon Bonaparte that he was fascinated by as he wrote a very detailed screenplay but shelved it due to the box-office failure of a period film similar to that called Waterloo. There were also brief discussions of his shelved 1990s Holocaust film Aryan Papers and the film A.I. Artificial Intelligence that he had storyboarded and conceptualized before turning the project to Steven Spielberg as a collaborative project. Spielberg along with other filmmakers also talk about Kubrick’s filmmaking style and the themes that he plays into his work.
Through the camera work of Manuel Harlan and editing of Melanie Viner Cuneo, Jan Harlan creates a film that is quite compelling and insightful as he’s also interviewed since he is Kubrick’s brother-in-law. Harlan allows the film to not just be a tribute to Kubrick but also a look into why people seem to love him just as a person. In the end, Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures is an extraordinary documentary about the revered filmmaker. It’s a film that fans of Kubrick must have as a companion piece to all of his films as well as an insight into the man who had been deemed as a taskmaster and such in his work. In the end, Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures is a wonderful documentary from Jan Harlan.
Stanley Kubrick Films: Fear and Desire - Killer's Kiss - The Killing - Paths of Glory - Spartacus - Lolita - Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb - 2001: A Space Odyssey - A Clockwork Orange - Barry Lyndon - The Shining - Full Metal Jacket - Eyes Wide Shut
Related: The Auteurs #18: Stanley Kubrick
© thevoid99 2012
