MARKED MOVIES

Director: Christine Jeffs.
Screenplay: Megan Holley.
Starring: Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin, Steve Zahn, Jason Spevack, Clifton Collins Jr, Mary Lynn Rasjkub, Eric Christian Olsen, Paul Dooley, Kevin Chapman, Judith Jones.

From the producers of “Little Miss Sunshine” we are told. Unfortunately, a film like this is reduced to riding on the success of another to gain any attention for itself. What a shame, as this well crafted ‘dramady’ has quality all it’s own.

In Albuquerque, N.M., struggling single mum Rose Lorkowski (Amy Adams) starts a business mopping up crime scenes. She has no experience in this highly specialized field so she recruits her stoner sister Norah (Emily Blunt) to help out and both siblings become emotionally involved in the lives and deaths of the messily deceased, while rediscovering their self-esteem and creating a bond between them that they have longed for as sisters.

I can’t say that the tag of a film being ‘produced’ by the same people actually means anything. As far as I’m aware producers don’t add anything creatively to a film. Personally I’m drawn to films that have interesting storylines or people involved that I’ve enjoyed before, and in this case, it’s Amy Adams. Having seen “Junebug” and “The Fighter” of late, I’ve been really impressed by her superb performances which have lead me onto the path of this unanticipated treat. It’s an adept comedy/drama with beautifully understated performances. The balance of dark comedy with family drama is skillfully handled by director Christine Jeffs, from an impressive debut script by Megan Holley. Minus a couple more oddballs family members, this has much in common with the previous producers film “Little Miss Sunshine”. It has the same well drawn characters (Alan Arkin’s eccentric grandpa included, only this time heroine free), the same mix of humour and pathos and the same upbeat tone in downbeat scenarios.

After steadily building a reputation for herself, this is another choice role for the marvellous Amy Adams, who is without doubt, the actress to watch these days. A wonderfully structured little film that achieves a balance in the realism of it’s characters in slightly surreal situations.
An unexpected delight.

Mark Walker

Director: Steven Soderbergh.
Screenplay: Scott Z. Burns.
Starring: Matt Damon, Scott Bakula, Thomas F. Wilson, Melanie Lynskey, Clancy Brown, Larry Clarke, Frank Welker.

Following the epic, political biopic “Che”, director Steven Soderbergh takes on another biopic, resulting in a strange little project for him and star Matt Damon.

Based on the real life events of Mark Whitacre (Damon), in the early 1990’s, who was the vice-president of agri-chemical firm ‘ADM’. Suffering from Bi-polar disorder and being highly convincing in his storytelling, he liaises with the FBI to root out a possible industrial spy in his workplace and then reveals that his employers are involved in a price-fixing cartel. The FBI take a massive interest and have Mark gathering evidence and wearing wires to bring his employers down. The problem is though, is that Whitacre also seems to be a compulsive liar and gradually reveals his own involvement in the embezzlement schemes.

A bizarre change of pace for Soderbergh and very unlike anything he has done before. As much as it was a fine attempt, I wasnt entirely convinced. I didn’t feel that the tone was right. I could see that Soderbergh was going for the absurdity in the situation but it could maybe have been a better film, had he played it straight and decided on some tension. However, given the facts, this story may have been difficult to take seriously. The whole film has the look of a comedy but with very few laughs. The overuse of dramatic music at sporadic moments is off-putting and after the first couple of times, with the novelty wearing off, it becomes intrusive and unnecessary. Damon is perfectly cast-against-type in the role of Whitacre, complete with dodgy ‘tache and hair-do. Despite being quite irritating, he’s highly entertaining and his recurrent voice-over throughout, is both humorous and informative. It’s a performance that’s worthy of attention and kept my interest until the end, which did seem a liitle far off at times.

Although interesting, it’s not an entirely succesful change of direction for Soderbergh, but it’s a terrific turn from Damon.

Mark Walker

Director: Tim Blake Nelson.
Screenplay: Tim Blake Nelson.
Starring: Edward Norton, Susan Sarandon, Keri Russell, Tim Blake Nelson, Josh Pais, Melanie Lynskey, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Ty Burrell, Steve Earle, Richard Dreyfuss.

The last time Edward Norton shifted between characters, showing his range, was in his film debut “Primal Fear”, gathering him an Oscar nomination and catapulting him to stardom. Here, he does similiar work, but the result this time, is a very mixed bag.

Bill Kincaid (Norton) is a respected philosophy professor, who has also been invited to join a law firm using his philosophical teachings. Before that happens though, he recieves a call informing him that his twin brother Brady (Norton again) has been killed. Lured back to his hometown of Oklahoma, Bill soons realises that Brady is alive and well and that he’s been fooled into his brothers involvement with growing marijuana and taking on a local criminal (Richard Dreyfuss).

Maybe working with the Coen brothers (on “O Brother Where Art Thou?”) has lead director/writer/actor Tim Blake Nelson into a false sense of security in his talents and delusions of granduer. It seems as though it’s the Coens’ effortless, genre blending skills he’s trying to emulate here but he simply doesn’t have their finesse. This is an uneven mish-mash of ideas with gaping holes in the plot and extreme changes in tone, shifting from a humourous approach to downright nasty and violent. It doesn’t get the balance right at all and might well have worked better had it decided what it wanted to be. Instead, it meanders, playing unsuccessfully with genres and only marginally keeping your interest with the impressive actors on screen. A real shame despite the talent involved. Norton and Susan Sarandon (who plays his mother) are two of my favourites. Nelson is always good support and also seems to have a good grasp of philosophy, but this time around I can only assume that the studio got their hands on this one, cutting it to shreds. Otherwise, it’s been a big mistake by all involved.

Its fairly appealling to watch Norton play off himself but he’s been much better before and the script seriously let’s his efforts down. A philosophical, hydroponic mess.

Mark Walker