The Asphalt Jungle

Viewing Log (1/30 - 2/5)

February 5th, 2010 by Raj Ranade

“Crazy Heart”, “The Damned United”, “Bronson”, and “The Invention of Lying”

Crazy Heart (Scott Cooper, 2009) - Reviewed in full.

The Invention of Lying (Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson, 2009) - A tremendous disappointment. In all of his work, Gervais has been quite good at achieving and sustaining a deep melancholy, which is present here. However, this has always been paired with a far more incisive study of human nature than what we get here - as evidenced by UK Office’s David Brent, Extras’ Andy Millman, and even the protagonist of “Ghost Town”, Gervais’ main characters have been complex creations that deserve much of what they get but are sympathetic anyway. Our sad-sack protagonist here is pretty flat and uninteresting - a super-nice cardboard martyr who is utterly blameless, seeking after a love interest (Jennifer Garner) who’s downright repellent, even if that’s only because of the rules of the alternate universe of the film. Some of the jabs at religion are fun, but that’s about all the praise I can really muster.

The Damned United (Tom Hooper, 2009) - I’m a little surprised that Michael Sheen had the performance that he gives here within him - it’s a bit of shock to see the man famous for playing stuffy, polite politicians cut loose into a cocky roar. It works surprisingly well and the movie as a whole is tremendously entertaining. Hooper is probably the most visually adventurous of the directors that writer Peter Morgan has worked with to date, and he manages an excellent cast quite well. I think the key to Peter Morgan’s continued success with screenplays is his unparalleled ability to find slightly offbeat, historically specific stories that may seem minor but have Shakespearean dimensions lurking within them.

Bronson (Nicolas Refn, 2009) - “Bronson” can basically be described as Chopper (a film I quite like) one-upped in pretty much every way. Tom Hardy, who I know only from an unexceptional bit part in RocknRolla, is jaw-droppingly good as Britain’s “most famous prisoner”, who was convicted of a small armed robbery but has stayed in jail ever since due to a pathological need to resist any and all authority, mostly by stripping naked and trying to beat to death every prison guard he comes by. Bronson sees himself as an artist in two mediums, drawing (he’s has numerous gallery showings and won numerous awards) and brutal violence. The film is a frightening window into the man’s head, complete with a vaudeville version of Bronson on stage addressing a theater of people within his mind as to his artistic vision (it makes sense, sort of, in the movie), but it’s also about the meaning of art in our lives and how it can provide an artist with rebirth (whether or not this may be socially acceptable). Refn films this masterful, intense character study of the man in gorgeous, expressionistic splashes of color (hint: red) and a brilliant soundtrack of opera and techno side-by-side. The most impressive effect though remains Hardy, in a remarkably shaded performance that powerfully elicits laughs, terror, and sympathy, often all at the same time.

Entry Filed under: Viewing Logs