Flick of The Day: The Crying Game

I'm a big fan of Neil Jordan, he is one of the best directing talents to come from these shores with a back catalogue full of interesting and intelligent cinema like the previously reviewed The Good Thief and Angel without even mentioning two of his best works Mona Lisa and today's flick of the day The Crying Game. If you are the kind of individual that likes to categorise things then Jordan's career can be split into distinct periods starting off with smaller dramas like Angel before Mona Lisa propelled him to Hollywood. This led to some questionable career choices like 1988's Steve Guttenberg starring High Spirits and 1994's Interview with The Vampire before returning to smaller pictures such as 2009's Ondine. However along the way he produced today's flick of the day which confirmed his talent as storyteller.

The Crying Game

Stephen Rea, a Jordan regular, is Fergus a reluctant IRA gunman who becomes part of a plot to kidnap a British soldier in an attempt to force the British to release one of their own men. The soldier, Jody played by Forest Whitaker, is a cricket playing West Indian from Tottenham who has no knowledge of why these people hate him so much. Lured to his captors by the callous IRA operative Jude, a cold Miranda Richardson, he soon finds himself hooded and tied in a remote rural safe house. Fergus is given the task of looking after Jody and taking pity on him befriends the young soldier. This leads to a grudging mutual respect. They share stories of their lives outside the conflict. Ultimately the IRA ploy fails and they decide to execute the hapless Jody but not before he asks Fergus to look in on his girlfriend in London. Fergus is unable to shoot him but as fate would have it Jody is knocked over by a British Army vehicle while escaping as the security forces raid the safe house. Making a narrow escape, Fergus heads for London to seek out Jody's girl. This builds into a psychological drama with a shocking conclusion as Fergus past catches up with him.

This film has undoubtedly been overshadowed by the twist in the tale, something which made headlines on release and undoubtedly helped to make the film a financial success but to focus on it is to overlook a decent film. Stephen Rea is excellent as the man with split loyalties between doing his job as a terrorist and being a human being. His performance exudes empathy throughout and really carries the audience through the second half of the film.

Fergus: What the fuck, do you know about my people? 

Jody: Only that you're all tough, undeluded motherfuckers... And it's not in your nature, to let me go! 

Fergus: Shut the fuck up, will ya?

Equally important to the plot is Jaye Davidson as Dil, Jody's girlfriend. It is Dil's interactions with Fergus which create the psychological element in the second half of the film which keeps the audience involved. We are left to wonder what Fergus motivations are for doing what he does. Is it guilt or voyeurism? He seems almost obsessed with finding out about Dil's life with Jody. 

While Jordan has crafted a strong thriller here, it is as much a character study of people with damaged lives and a past they can't easily forget or escape. It is this study of relationships and human nature which elevate the film to another level. It is a testament to this storytelling that the big twist when it comes is still a surprise yet somehow seems a natural event given the little hints earlier in the film.

Fergus: As a man said, it's in my nature. 

Dil: What's that supposed to mean? 

Fergus: Well... there's this scorpion, you see, and he wants to go across a river. Well, he can't swim so he goes to this frog, who naturally enough can swim. And he says, 

[imitating the scorpion's voice] 

Fergus: "Excuse me, Mr. Froggy. I want to go across the river." 

[continues narrating] 

Fergus: So the frog accepts the idea. The scorpion hops on the frog's back. Suddenly, the frog: "Aah!" He feels this sting! "You stung me! Why did you go and do that?" The scorpion looks at him and says, "I can't help it, it's in my nature"

All in all then a film that you really should see. Surely one of the best films of the 1990's and a definite touchstone in any retrospective of Jordan's varied career. Jordan would go on to make a number of succesful films but perhaps none is as complete as this. The Good Thief is enjoyable and Michael Collins is a must for any Irish person though perhaps not as accessible to outsiders while the less said about Jodie Foster starring The Brave One the better. Still, he remains a major talent now devoting his energies to the television epic The Borgias. 

Flick of The Day: Angel

Neil Jordan has for many years been regarded as one of Ireland's most talented directors, with a diverse body of work to back this up. Always seeming to follow his own path, he has created work as different as  the dark journey into the London underworld of Mona Lisa to the historical epic sweep of Michael Collins and the downright oddity of Breakfast on Pluto. Of course this path started somewhere and in Jordan's case it was this  little drama set in the dark days of the Troubles. Today's flick of the day is Angel.

Angel

An impossibly young looking Stephen Rea stars as Danny, a dreamer saxophone player in a travelling show band. One night after another gig in a small ballroom in a border town, Danny encounters a young mute girl and whiles away the evening with her. That night, the local loyalist paramilitaries murder Danny's manager as part of a protection racket. The young girl inadvertently witnesses the killing and is gunned down while Danny hides in the shadows. Riddled with guilt and determined to get revenge, Danny sets out to track down the killers one by one. As this murderous revenge takes hold of him, Danny finds himself becoming as obsessive and dangerous as the man he is tracking.

There is perhaps no darker period in Ireland's troubled history then the 1980's. The armed conflict in Northern Ireland raged on seemingly without end and an economic malaise forced its best and brightest to emigrate. It is this setting in which Jordan creates perhaps his darkest film. The opening scenes at the rural film are shot with a particular naturalism and are perhaps the strongest section of the film. The events of that night define the rest of the film as they define Danny. The violence of the Northern Irish troubles is hinted at but this really isn't a political film. The bad guys could be from either side, it makes no difference. Effectively, this is an insight into the deadening effect violence can have on people. Danny starts out as a happy go lucky musician and ends the film as a homicidal psychotic every bit as dangerous as the man he tracks. 

In this complex role, Rea gives the best performance of his career. In Danny, he creates a character who undergoes a metamorphosis as striking as anything seen on Irish screens to date, unravelling over the course of the film. Rea is joined in a fine cast by some great Irish acting names like Ray McAnally and Gerard McSorley. While not a film that is an enjoyable watch, it is a taut and twisting drama that makes no bones about being a bleak portrayal of an Ireland that has thankfully long since disappeared into the mists. 

Both Neil Jordan and Stephen Rea would see their careers blossom from this movie with Jordan managing to strike a balance between independent work of artistic merit and the Hollywood ethic of making money. Rea, meanwhile has forged a career as a strong character actor who is always in demand and it is amazing to think he was 36 when this film was shot in 1982. All in all, this is a classic of Irish cinema and cultural touchstone of a time and place.

Flick of The Day: V for Vendetta

English writer Alan Moore, famed for his work in graphic novels, has seen many of his best works adapted for the screen with disastrous results. It reads like a who's who of awful cinema with From Hell, The League of Extraodinary Gentlemen and Constantine being the worst examples. He has since requested that his name be removed from any such projects and it is a shame that one of the disavowed films include this excellent adaptation and today's flick of the day, V for Vendetta.

V for Vendetta

Set in a dystopian vision of Britain, in which a fascist like government controls all aspects of society in a manner none to dissimilar to Orwell's 1984. This all seeing totalitarian state abuses its power and crushes all opposition through violence and propaganda led by the evil Chancellor Sutler played by John Hurt. The always reliable Natalie Portman is Evey, a quiet young woman who while trying to evade the secret police stumbles into V, a masked crusader played by Hugo Weaving who in remembrance of the gunpowder plot of Guy Fawkes is determined to bring an end to the reign of terror. Taking Evey under his wing, they plot revenge.

It is always important to remember the context in which a particular work is produced. Alan Moore wrote this tale of authoritarianism in the 1980's when Margaret Thatcher was at the height of her power and the idea of some kind of neo-conservative society was very much a possibility with the average working class British citizen being forced to the margins. Then again, the film itself was produced at a time after 9/11 when the world had become a very dangerous place indeed with the evil cradling of Guantanamo Bay just being spawned in the minds of the public. This context is important because the fear of totalitarianism expressed in the book and the film is so very relevant to today. Director and screenwriter James McTeigue makes numerous references to the real world today. The black bags which undesirables are subjected to is surely a reference to the kind seen in Abu Ghraib and there are also references to a war which brought America to its knees. Whether these references are valid is something for yourself to decide but it was undoubtedly an influence.

These themes aside, it is a very entertaining film just taken at face value. Stephen Rea is excellent as the conflicted detective on the trail of Evey and V while Portman manages the role of Evey with aplomb. The cast are excellent all round and there are some enjoyable action set pieces which build the tension as V seeks to push the nation toward revolution and a grand finale on Guy Fawkes Night.

"So I read that the former United States is so desperate for medical supplies that they have allegedly sent several containers filled with wheat and tobacco. A gesture, they said, of good will. You wanna know what I think? Well, you're listening to my show, so I will assume you do... I think it's high time we let the colonies know what we really think of them. I think its payback time for a little tea party they threw for us a few hundred years ago. I say we go down to those docks tonight and dump that crap where everything from the Ulcered Sphincter of Arse-erica belongs! Who's with me? Who's bloody with me?"

This could so easily have become some po-faced preachy piece about morality and fear in the post 9/11 world but it manages to be both entertaining and thought provoking. The story of how Britain gradually slipped into the grips of the fascistic Norsefire party which is told in flashback  is chillingly possible and will make you think about this possibility if nothing else. A fine story, which is subtly directed and acted by a fine cast. Well worth a look.