Flick of the Day: The Iceman

I like surprises. I especially like surprises when I go to the cinema. I like entering the theatre with little or no expectations and being pleasantly surprised by the two hour traffic of my stage. Of course such things are relatively rare in this age of endless interconnectivity and near constant reviews of everything that a human being can consume. Generally you know what to expect. Today was a nice exception.  

Michael Shannon has developed a career out of playing intense and often brooding characters to great effect. He was the crazed young man who is perhaps the only truly sane character in Revolutionary Road, he was the family man driven over the edge by his nightmares in Take Shelter and the crooked cop having a bad day in Premium Rush. Such is his talent that with the right roles he will surely become a star. Today he plays Richard Kuklinski, a real life Mafia hit-man who built a career on a pathological coldness yet maintained a relatively happy family life until his arrest in 1986.

Our tale opens in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1965, Richard is a quiet and brooding young man attempting to woo Deborah played by Winona Ryder. The pair fall in love and marry though Deborah remains unaware that Richard works as a pornography distributor on the fringes of the underworld.  He soon displays a propensity for great violence at the least provocation and comes to the attention of local boss Roy Demeo played with a vicious charm by Ray Liotta. Richard becomes a man who removes the little problems that Roy encounters. The years pass and the body count rises and meanwhile Richard and Deborah have  had two daughters who seem to worship the ground on which their father walks. Business has been good to Richard and he has become a wealthy man. He explains his largesse to his unsuspecting friends as being down to his skill as a foreign currency trader. Things are almost too good and so it proves as the actions of Roy's deadbeat friend Josh Rosenthal, played by an incredibly sleazy David Schwimmer, conspire to drive a wedge between Roy and Richard. Richard's life begins to spiral out of control and as his well appointed facade falls apart so does his grip on his psychosis.

What separates today's flick and indeed Michael Shannon's performance is that unlike so many films it does not in any way seek to glamorise the lives of what are deeply disturbed men. They do not live normal lives like the rest of us, they live violently. It is the violence and the underlying psychosis which anchor their lives. Richard Kuklinski is a very scary individual, always on the edge of violence. Yet so is Ray Liotta's Roy Demeo and Richard's fellow contract killer Mr. Freezy played by Chris Evans. They are men who hurt small animals, men who engage in domestic violence. They are in short, not to be admired or normalised in the manner so many gangsters are in hagiography-like biopics. 

The film is blessed to have a really excellent supporting cast with fine turns from the likes of Robert Davi as a Mafia boss, John Ventimiglia who is perhaps better known as Artie Bucco in The Sopranos and a blink and you will miss it turn from James Franco. All in all this is a very compelling look at a man consumed by violence. It manages to both detail his crimes and his love for his family which I don't doubt was genuine. Some of the most interesting scenes involve the interplay between Richard and his unassuming family. Shannon's performance makes you feel like anything could happen. 

Flick of The Day: GoodFellas

The gangster movie has been a cornerstone of cinema since before there was a Hollywood. From early classics like Little Caesar and The Public Enemy in the 1930's to Coppola's The Godfather and Scorsese's Mean Streets in the 70's, it has always been a popular genre. It begs an obvious question, what is the best gangster film of them all? I think the answer to that question is today's flick of the day Martin Scorsese's GoodFellas.

GoodFellas

Based on the bestselling book by Nicholas Pileggi, this is the true story of a life in the Mafia. It follows the course of Henry Hill, played by Ray Liotta, a half Irish half Sicilian who becomes involved with the mob first as an after school job before blossoming into a fully formed gangster, a GoodFella. He falls under the spell of Jimmy Conway, a rising star of the family, played by Robert De Niro and befriends a crazy hot head called Tommy DeVito played by Joe Pesci. Set to a fantastic period soundtrack, the film moves from the early 50's to the 70's to the bitter end of it all in 1980. Together, the three work various scams and heists for local chieftain Paulie Cicero, a star turn from Paul Sorvino. Like all the great stories, this is the story of the rise and fall.

Scorsese has created a work of stunning breadth and ambition. It comes in at nearly 150 minutes and yet breezes by such is the speed and focus of the editing. There are so many high points that they can't be listed from the single continuous take entrance to a nightclub to the snappy quotable dialogue and the vast cast of characters that remain memorable such is the strength of the script.

Henry Hill: You're a pistol, you're really funny. You're really funny. 

Tommy DeVito: What do you mean I'm funny? 

Henry Hill: It's funny, you know. It's a good story, it's funny, you're a funny guy. 

[laughs] 

Tommy DeVito: What do you mean, you mean the way I talk? What? 

Henry Hill: It's just, you know. You're just funny, it's... funny, the way you tell the story and everything. 

Tommy DeVito: [it becomes quiet] Funny how? What's funny about it? 

Anthony Stabile: Tommy no, You got it all wrong. 

Tommy DeVito: Oh, oh, Anthony. He's a big boy, he knows what he said. What did ya say? Funny how? 

Henry Hill: Jus... 

Tommy DeVito: What? 

Henry Hill: Just... ya know... you're funny. 

Tommy DeVito: You mean, let me understand this cause, ya know maybe it's me, I'm a little fucked up maybe, but I'm funny how, I mean funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I'm here to fuckin' amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny? 

Henry Hill: Just... you know, how you tell the story, what? 

Tommy DeVito: No, no, I don't know, you said it. How do I know? You said I'm funny. How the fuck am I funny, what the fuck is so funny about me? Tell me, tell me what's funny! 

Henry Hill: [long pause] Get the fuck out of here, Tommy! 

Tommy DeVito: [everyone laughs] Ya motherfucker! I almost had him, I almost had him. Ya stuttering prick ya. Frankie, was he shaking? I wonder about you sometimes, Henry. You may fold under questioning.

The point made throughout the film is that the various characters are in the mob because they like it, it is what drives them. Their various flaws, the frankly psychotic Tommy, the kleptomaniac Jimmy and the easily led Henry are what make them successful gangsters.

It is difficult to underestimate the legacy of GoodFellas, much like Scorsese's previous reinvention of the genre in 1973 with Mean Streets. The creator of HBO's The Sopranos even went so far as to say that "Goodfellas is the Koran for me" and cited it as the film which drove him to create his own masterpiece. The film is a triumph on so many levels. It is not just an account of a life in the Mafia, but a morality play. At the beginning, as Henry and Jimmy follow the rules and pay tribute to their leader Paulie, stay away from drug dealing and avoid murder as a last resort, they begin to prosper. However as the decades move on and they become deeply involved in the drug trade and go against Paulie's wishes, events spiral out of control and lead eventually to their downfall.

I don't think there is anything more that can be said really. It is a fantastic film, packed with stand out performances and perhaps Scorsese's best work as a director. If you haven't already seen it, you really should.