Flick of the Day: The King of Marvin Gardens

The rise and fall of Bob Rafelson's BBS Productions is the story of 1970's American cinema. At the vanguard of the movement to bring smart, literate cinema to the American mainstream, it quickly flamed out but in it short life, it left some genuinely ground breaking work such as Five Easy Pieces, The Last Picture Show and today's flick of the day The King of Marvin Gardens. The story of BBS is documented in Peter Biskind's excellent account of 70's cinema Easy Riders & Raging Bulls however it was the failure of Marvin Gardens which dragged BBS down and marked a creative limit for how far mainstream audiences were prepared to follow a new generation of film-makers that were to blossom later in the decade.

The King of Marvin Gardens

A relentlessly downbeat look at the disillusionment with society of those on the margins, the film opens with a depressive radio DJ, David Staebler played by a reserved Jack Nicholson, who spends his days monologuing philosophy on his show in Philadelphia while looking after his aged grandfather. One day out of the blue, he gets a call from his estranged brother Jason, a manic con-man played by Bruce Dern who urges David to come to Atlantic City for his latest get rich quick scheme. Arriving to a wintry and decaying city that is long past its heyday and long before its rebirth as the town that gambling owns, he meets Jason's two accomplices, an ageing beauty queen named Sally played by Ellen Burstyn and her stepdaughter Jessica. David quickly realizes that Jason's plans are pie in the sky and tries to talk some sense into him but neither he nor the women in his life are listening leading to a tragic outcome for all.

Coming off a series of failures, BBS Productions was desperate for Marvin Gardens to be a hit and on paper it seemed a sure thing. It re-teamed the star and director of 1970's surprise hit Five Easy Pieces and had a fine cast including Ellen Burstyn fresh from an Oscar nomination the previous year. However, this dark and at times bizarre tale of urban alienation was too much for even the enlightened audience it was aimed at. In retrospect it is not a bad film and despite an initial feeling that the two male leads Nicholson and Dern should switch roles, they do deliver strong performances with Dern excelling as the extrovert con-man and Nicholson showing his range as the permanently depressed DJ. The gritty realism of Laszlo Kovacs cinematography gives the off-season Atlantic City a dark beauty and highlights both the decay of the city and the isolation of the characters.

The real emotional heart of the film is that each of these characters apart from David places money and fame above personal relationships and each are damaged individuals because of it.

Jason Staebler: You notice how it's Monopoly out there? Remember Boardwalk, Park Place, Marvin Gardens? 
David Staebler: Go directly to jail? 
Jason Staebler: Well, that's me. Don't pass go, don't collect $200. 

While not one of the all time greats, it is still an affecting and hard hitting drama of human relationships. Nicholson's David is as emotionally reserved as Dern's Jason is out there and the various bizarre scenarios they find themselves in merely highlight this emotional emptiness in their lives due to the focus on money.

All in all, this is a dark and downbeat film with an ending that will leave you feeling ill at ease. That said, there are some fine performances from the leads and the cinematography makes the most of the wintry setting of a depressed Atlantic City. Nicholson's career would go on to bigger and better pictures but he shows real range as the dour David while Bruce Dern makes the most of one of his better roles in the 70's. A touchstone for where the decade went in terms of cinema and a historically important film.

Flick of The Day: Barney's Version

Last week we reviewed Sideways starring Paul Giamatti, which was an adaptation of a 2004 novel by Rex Pickett. Today's flick of the day is another Giamatti film and another literary adaptation, Barney's Version. Based on the celebrated work by Canadian author Mordechai Richler, it is a story of some breadth and humour.

Barney's Version

Giamatti is Barney Panofsky, a Canadian Jew who is recounting his life story to us in flashbacks as his mind falters in old age. It begins as a young man in Rome in the '70s where he hangs out with a loose group of arty intellectual friends while he works as a salesman. We see his doomed first marriage to the mentally unstable Clara, his return to Montreal to become a low rent TV producer and his equally unstable second marriage to the bitchy princess referred to only as The Second Wife and played ably by Minnie Driver. He has the misfortune of meeting and falling for the love of his life Miriam at his marriage ceremony. As he extricates himself and pursues Miriam, he is accused of the murder of his best friend who goes missing though there is no evidence of this. Throughout all this his endearing working class father Izzy, played by Dustin Hoffman stands by him and is always there to offer sound advice. As we see Barney in old age, his good humour and a life well lived carry the film through.

The dry humour of Richler's novel really shines through as the film takes a satirical look at Montreal's Jewish community. In Giamatti, they have the perfect actor to play Barney. With anyone else, Barney could come across as a bit of a depressive and Giamatti really drags the life of the character to the fore, something important in a biographical tale. Barney is passionate in his pursuit of Miriam and loves her to the very end, he enjoys a fine cigar and a drop of whiskey and is religious about the ups and downs of his favourite ice hockey team.

Barney Panofsky: ...and I'm just gonna keep talking here, 'cause I'm afraid that if I stop there's gonna be a pause or a break and you're gonna say 'It's getting late' or 'I should get going', and I'm not ready for that to happen. I don't want that to happen. Ever.  
 [they pause]  
 Miriam: There it was. The pause. 
 Barney Panofsky: Yeah.  
 Miriam: I'm still here.

The film is a love story and a life story and as Barney moves from the vitality of his youth to the complacency of middle age and ultimately his mental decline, the film becomes less humorous and more sentimental. This is not meant as a criticism however as it never wallows in it and yes when Barney's end comes, it is sad and a downbeat ending but ultimately the message comes through that Barney gave life his all and enjoyed himself.. This is a powerful lesson and a satisfying ending.

Miriam: We can be friends now, can't we?  

 Barney Panofsky: No. We can't.  

 Miriam: I'm here for you if you'll let me. We had a beautiful marriage, but it's over. I want you to be at peace with that.  

 Barney Panofsky: Have I ever given up when it comes to you?  

 Miriam: Never.  

 Barney Panofsky: So what makes you think I would start now?

In the end, this is a very good film and a worthy adaptation. Giamatti dominates the picture and quite rightly won a Golden Globe for his performance. Dustin Hoffman deserves plaudits for his down to earth portrayal of Izzy. Funny, poignant and true, this is as good a story as you will see all year. Giamatti's performance is such that you can't but fall for him and care about the decisions he makes, genuinely hoping for the best. That is film-making.

Flick of The Day: Drive

Canadian actor Ryan Gosling has carved out a niche for himself over the past few years as the American Indie scene's go-to guy for quirky leading roles, with star making turns in Half Nelson, Lars & The Real Girl and Blue Valentine. His performance as an inner-city teacher struggling with drug addiction in Half Nelson earned him an Oscar nomination. I was then very much looking forward to his latest film, Drive which is today's flick of the day.

Drive

The story such as it is revolves around the unnamed Gosling as a Hollywood stunt driver and mechanic who moonlights as getaway driver for hire. He is the quite taciturn type that might have been played by Steve McQueen back in the 1970's. Before you let your mind wander off there to McQueen's classic car chase filled Bullit and wonder about similarities, let me disabuse you of any such notions immediately. This is not that kind of film. Gosling's Driver works for shifty looking Shannon, a crippled businessman with a heart of gold and an eye for it too, played by the seemingly ubiquitous Bryan Cranston. All is going well and profitably until Driver meets and falls for his new neighbour Irene and her son. Irene is a woman with a husband about to get out of jail, ably played by Carey Mulligan. Of course her husband soon returns and all is not well. For reasons known only to himself and the screenwriter, Driver decides to help out this down on his luck husband by acting as his getaway driver. Inevitably things go awry, and Driver falls awry of local hoods Nino and Bernie played by the always reliable Ron Perlman and Albert Brooks. Along the way is a blink and you won't miss her departure cameo by the lovely Christina Hendricks of Mad Men fame.

This is where the film begins to go badly awry. It starts well with a great opening sequence, some classic synth tunes and 80's style credits and you could be forgiven for thinking you are in for a treat. It is when Driver begins to get himself in trouble that the film falters. Out of nowhere, the up to this point peaceable Driver becomes mindlessly violent and the director, Nicholas Winding Refn seems to revel in showing it to us in all the gory detail. A head is kicked to a bloody pulp, another explodes in a shotgun blast. Driver is not the only violent man, Bernie played against type by Brooks gets in on the act, with wrists and throats slashed and arterial spray the normal result of almost any confrontation. It is this revelling in the gore which is so misplaced. The director is so focused on showing us the physical effects of the violence that it never shows us any emotion. Think of cinema violence back in the days of the Hays Code when it couldn't be shown directly, yet we still saw its effects and the anguish on a characters face. I have no problem with screen violence for it  represents the world we live in yet I see no point in it being the sole focus of a film to the detriment of the story. Early works from Tarantino such as Reservoir Dogs were violent but it always felt necessary and human. If the slow agonising death of Tim Roth's Mr Orange thought us anything it is that sometimes death is slow and painful but it was never done gratuitously.

Apart from this, its pretty standard B-Movie stuff. The kind of thing you might have caught on a lazy Saturday afternoon back in the day. It is a strikingly shot film with some gorgeous shots of a night time Los Angeles and there is an excellent score to carry the piece through. At times, it was the only thing keeping me interested.

Driver: If I drive for you, you give me a time and a place. I give you a five-minute window, anything happens in that five minutes and I'm yours no matter what. I don't sit in while you're running it down; I don't carry a gun... I drive.

Gosling carries his role well but he isn't given a whole lot to work with, dialogue wise he says very little over the course of the film and it is to his credit that he manages to convey emotion and mood silently. His relationship with Irene's son is compelling. Overall the cast are excellent, its just not as good  a film as it thinks it is and that's a shame.

My only other criticism would be that for a film which promises so much in terms of its title and smashing trailer, it delivers precious little in terms of car chases or action driving. Oh sure, Driver drives about the city looking stern but we never really see him take on all these getaway jobs.

All in all, this is a slick film with a lot of style from the opening credits to the final shot and Refn is a director with an eye for framing a shot, but there is no real heart here. I left the cinema disappointed but there you go, such is life. Draw your own conclusions.

Flick of The Day: The Spy Who Came in From the Cold

John Le Carre has long been the master of the intelligent spy novel, the kind that seems to exist in a separate world from the likes of James Bond. Presenting the world of the cold war spy as a dark, treacherous place with realism at its core, today's flick of the day is one of the best adaptations of Le Carre's work outside of the BBC miniseries starring Alec Guinness.

The Spy Who Came in From the Cold

Starring the inimitable Richard Burton in the Oscar nominated role of the ageing tired British operative in Cold War Berlin, Alec Leamas. After losing another agent in a failed operation, Alec is recalled to London for a meeting with "Control", the head of the "Circus". He is to be pulled from field operations, but only for a special purpose, an elaborate plan to cause chaos on the other side by operating as a double agent. In order to make his defection appear plausible, he is stripped of his job, becomes an alcoholic and is imprisoned in a humiliating manner. Before long, the East Germans make contact and Alec switches sides. Like all great stories, all is not as it seems and there are a number of twists in the tale before a thrilling and tragic finale.

The main thrust of this story is that the activities engaged in by Western intelligence agencies can quite often not be squared with the supposed democratic values of their countries. The film is hard hitting and bleak throughout but has a powerful message at its core with Burton's portrayal of a disaffected and burnt out agent carrying the film throughout. 

Alec Leamas: [Yawns] 

Peters: Tired? 

Alec Leamas: Aren't you? 

Peters: No, I didn't have any drink with my supper. 

Alec Leamas: I didn't have any supper with my drink.

Though Ireland and Britain stand in for East Berlin, the film feels authentic throughout, a hallmark of the work of Le Carre. This gritty realism did not transpond to success at the Box Office, but it has meant that the film has stood the test of time unlike so many of its contemporaries.

Indeed the stark black and white photography does build an oppressive mood which is only released in the final scene. The film lives or dies with Burton's portrayal however and he is a rock throughout, never wavering in the belief system that he lives by.

Alec Leamas: What the hell do you think spies are? Moral philosophers measuring everything they do against the word of God or Karl Marx? They're not! They're just a bunch of seedy, squalid bastards like me: little men, drunkards, queers, hen-pecked husbands, civil servants playing cowboys and Indians to brighten their rotten little lives. Do you think they sit like monks in a cell, balancing right against wrong?

This is one of the finest spy movies of all time, led by a grandstanding performance, and a realistic portrayal of a profession. This is a genuine must see for any fan of the genre.