Getting in over your
head is the theme that makes The
Counselor (2013) and Easy Money
(2010) a natural pair in the noir genre. What I particularly like is the sense
of reality the filmmakers establish. While there is violence and suspense,
nothing is over the top. A sense of “this could happen” permeates the
atmosphere.
The Counselor has
the help of genuinely heavy hitters in the talent department. Ridley Scott directed the story created
by Cormac McCarthy. Primary roles
were filled by Michael Fassbender, Penélope
Cruz, Javier Barden, Cameron Diaz
and Brad Pitt, some of them giving
better than usual performances. Supporting
roles were also given to serious talent — Rosie
Perez, John Leguizamo, Reubén
Blades among them.
The story, largely set in Mexico, involves a huge shipment of
cocaine. The smuggling is ingenious, and certainly profitable. Everyone could walk away from a cleverly
planned drug deal with a nice piece of the action and live happily ever
after. However one guy thinks he has a
better idea, and greed — sin or not — turns out to be as deadly as people say
it is.
In Easy Money, the
cast is Swedish. This may be why we
don’t have to overcome the celebrity that is so prevalent in The Counselor. The acting is just as good. And we in North America are becoming somewhat
familiar with the talented Joel Kinnamen.
(He was in a remake of Robocop and in
“The Killing.”) The Kinnamen character
is living above his station but longs to be accepted by a snobbishly rich clique.
His expensive role-playing is difficult to maintain on the income of a
part-time taxi driver. He decides to step
up his income by engaging in cocaine trafficking and then, because he is quite
clever, he helps a Yugoslavian mob boss launder the profits. He almost finds a way to fit in with those
born into wealth. And he believes he’s indispensible to the drug lord he
serves. But he’s as much out of his league with the long-landed gentry as he is
with professional thugs. As it turns out
he’s a decent guy, a quality that hinders his full access to the worlds he
wants to enter. Daniel Espinosa directed Easy Money, based on the novel of the
same name by Jens Lapidus. Matias
Varela and Dragomir Mrsic
co-starred. On a funny but all too-true note, one critic praised the Swedish
film for not including a “tired old inspector” in the cast of characters.
For an accompaniment to the evening, you can choose
something to enhance the warm climate of Mexico. Tequila perhaps or a Corona. If you are more inclined to think Swede, why
not have Sweden’s vodka, Absolut? Or
some cider?
2 comments:
Wow. What a cast! I will seek out "The Counselor" for sure. Sadly, I'll probably just have it with a Diet Coke. No wait, how about a Kahlua with my coffee?!
I like these small films. Sometimes blockbusters can be exhausting and these character-driven films are perfect for a quiet evening, snuggled up and ignoring a mad world outside.
Post a Comment