Film Pairings — Primers: Something to Watch Before The Primaries

Gore Vidal

This is a political posting. I’ve committed the blog to primarily talk about crime books and crime films. I see no real distinction between crime and the politics practiced today, perhaps the way they have been practiced all along.  The Citizens United Decision legalized the bribery that has been going on since the Union was founded.  Our presidential nominees lie to us constantly.  This year we have one probable nominee who boasts of buying politicians and promises he will do whatever is necessary to achieve his goals. He’s at least telling us he will screw us over. Another suggests he would replace the Constitution with The Bible.  Still another receives tons of money from Wall Street while promising she will come down hard on those evil bankers.  When will we learn? Here are a couple of reminders as we approach the last days of the primaries.

 The United States of Amnesia — Ostensibly a film biography of writer Gore Vidal, we are exposed to an insider’s insights into the political machine.  We are spared details of his emotional entanglements largely because he spared himself.  Instead we have informed and passionate political thought on our country from someone deeply disappointed in it.  He was an idealist scorned.  Scrapbook photographs, television footage and interviews wrap up a life of a writer whose best works were essays, or at least commentary, on how well the U.S. does when judged by its stated most cherished values.  We don’t do well.  The oil wars.  The rich on welfare while the poor go bankrupt paying for medical emergency. The fiction of Camelot. Bush-Cheney and the stolen presidency.

The film was directed by Nicholas D. Wrathall and released in 2013.In addition to Vidal, Christopher Hitchens, Tim Robbins, Mikhail Gorbachev, Sting, David Mamet, William F. Buckley and Norman Mailer, and Dick Cavett are also in the documentary

Christian Bale

The Big Short — We know the story, sort of. And it’s the “sort of” that is the problem.  It’s banking, accounting. The director of the movie let’s you know up front, your eyes might glaze over as the story unfolds.  The truth is this complicated sub-prime problem that nearly destroyed the U.S. and world economies is damned hard to follow, so hard in fact that the fraud perpetrators not only walked free, they received bonuses as the victims families were thrown out of their homes. No one went to jail.  The Big Short admirably tells a complex tale exposing greed until, at last, the sole principled player takes the payoff.

Last year’s critical success was directed by Adam McKay based on the book by Michael Lewis. Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt flesh out a solid cast.

Both of these films are not mainstream in their approaches to the subjects. However, they do ask us to evaluate our participation in the established system. You be the judge on the level of corruption and how they might affect your vote in the primaries and in November.

To provide libations for the evening, it seems we might rely on the good old USA.  Maybe we should find a beer from a microbrewery not owned by a major corporation or a little carton of Bernie and Jerry’s ice cream.  Sorry, make that Ben and Jerry’s. Cherry Garcia Fro Yo is my addiction.

Film Pairing — Two Takes On American Gangsters

Close your eyes.  Let’s travel back in time to the 1940s. And when you’re done with Tommy Guns in Los Angeles and a sharp divide between good and evil, go to New York for a glimpse of smaller-time gangsters and an abundance of angst in the 1970s. One film is an all-American shoot ‘em up. The other is American with a French twist. It’s a great contrast in filmmaking barely missing the obvious cultural clichés.

Gangster Squad – This is a graphic novel of a film – not quite to the extent of Sin City, but pretty damned close and almost as good. In this case, heroes and villains are intentionally paper–thin characters engaging in a violent, action-packed bio of gangster Mickey Cohen’s reign in Los Angeles and a dirty half-dozen gang of cops determined to take him down. Directed by Ruben Fleischer, and beautifully photographed by Dion Beebe, the movie was released in 2013.  Sean Penn (Cohen) and Josh Brolin play the main adversaries.  Ryan Gosling, Nick Nolte and Emma Stone are also among a large and talented cast.

Blood Ties — Despite its blue-collar roots, the film relies on story and character as much as plot. In other words, if you are looking for an action film, you’ve come to the wrong place. This is a tale of two brothers — one a decent cop and the other a guy who just can’t walk a straight line. The family bond brings them together and their shared past tears them apart.  Both of their lives are in danger.  Love, honor and loyalty are explored in depth.  “What would you do?” is the question you are left with.  Leave it to the French influence to make you work and not tie it up in a neat little bow at the end. The film, also released in 2013, was directed by Guillaume Canet, based on Jacques Maillot’s Les Liens du sang.  Clive Owen and Billy Crudup play the brothers. Marion Cotillard, Mila Kunis and Zoe Saldana also star.  James Caan is excellent as the brothers’ father.

A little sustenance while you watch?   For Gangster Squad, pretend you are at a table at the nightclub, Slapsy Maxie’s, and order the cocktail of your choice. Shirley Temples are okay.  There’s nothing highbrow about Blood Ties (except for its philosophical questions), so break out a six -pack of something.  For both films, stay alert for new and innovative ways of saying the F-word.

Film Pairings — Tough Cops Up Against The Glass Ceiling

As regular readers know, the choices here are not necessarily the best crime fiction films ever.  In some cases, I look at movies that might have slipped under the radar for good reason.  My thinking is that even a mediocre crime film might be more entertaining than an evening of reruns or the fifth time through a Suzie Orman money management lecture, when in fact, you have no money to manage.  Here are two flawed movies, each with some interesting moments.  The two movies provide an interesting study about how two female cops (and the people who play them) can fight gender bias and their own demons get the job done.

Andy Garcia and Ashley Judd

Twisted — Ashley Judd takes the lead in murder investigations that somehow lead back to her.  She must fight against the department’s entrenched beliefs that women are less capable of dealing with such tough assignments and that she, in particular, may not be up to the task.  Samuel L. Jackson plays her mentor, Andy Garcia her partner, and David Strathairn her mental health counselor. The director Philip Kaufman and cinematographer Peter Deming make the best of San Francisco’s dramatically photogenic locations to set the noirish mood. Twisted was released in 2004

Sandra Bullock and Ryan Gosling

Murder By Numbers — I’ve mentioned the famous Leopold and Loeb case as the basis for a number of films in earlier posts. This is another one, though the focus here is on he crime solver, not the criminals. Sandra Bullock gives a more credible performance than Ashley Judd as the somewhat complex, troubled homicide detective. Young Ryan Gosling and Michael Pitt provide Bullock with ample challenge.  Gosling is charmingly obnoxious, portraying a character just as maddening and difficult as the character Bullock portrays.  Murder By Numbers was directed by Barbet Schroeder and released in 2002.

A casual night.  You probably won’t be biting your fingernails, but perhaps enjoying a crime film not driven by testosterone. How about some Cabernet or a café au lait?

Film Pairings — Crime Novels On Film: James Sallis And Ken Bruen

Criminals with standards?  No, not like “rob from the rich, give to the poor.”  More like “I won’t actually rob anybody, but I’ll drive the get away car.” Once you get beyond the notion of “a little bit criminal” you can’t help but be seduced by the surprisingly similar stories in these two fine films. Each petty criminal, as the pressure escalates to pick a side (good or evil), finds it more and more difficult to resist. And in the spirit of noir, contemporary noir to be sure, they find that noble choices may not be rewarded.

The film, London Boulevard, based on the dark, literary and prolific Irish crime writer Ken Bruen’s novel, was all but panned by American reviewers.  The film Drive, on the other hand, based on the dark, literary and prolific American crime writer James Sallis’ novel, received high praise.  I could perhaps understand why critics might dislike both of them. Dark and violent.  Or love both of them.  Great story telling. What I do not understand is why one is damned and one is praised.  Both stories fascinate.  The acting, directing and cinematography are top-notch in both films.  So, please someone clue me in.

Perhaps it is that London Boulevard (2010) brings with it a British sensibility that Americans may find difficult to relate to.  The gangsters are a little different.  Both the top hood and the young thug talk about literature amidst grotesque and quite often senseless violence.  Colin Farrell, who plays the young, and redeemable thug, is gradually seduced into protecting a beautiful celebrity while also trying (nobly) to avenge the mind-numbingly unnecessary murder of a homeless man he had befriended. Farrell is solid as the young man who tries to find a way to escape his previous entanglements with the mob.  Ray Winstone does his usual fine job, this time as the psychopathic gang leader.  However the grandly indifferent — perhaps most malevolent — character, portrayed by David Thewlis, puts the story over the top (in a good way) — and leaves us with perhaps too much interest in the parts of his life that are untold. I want the next movie to be about him.  Credit goes to the writers who created the character and Thewlis who is pitch perfect.  Keira Knightley plays the delicately beautiful celebrity in need of Farrell’s protection. William Monahan wrote the screenplay and directed.

Drive (2011) was a hit, not the blockbuster producers apparently anticipated, but a tough, tight, compelling movie nonetheless. It made a lot of money.  Credit certainly goes to Ryan Gosling who plays a character in a dilemma similar to Farrell’s in London Boulevard.  In this case we have a seemingly amoral loner whose only passion is driving.  He is a reluctant hero.  The last thing he would ever want is to be put in a position to make a decision having to do with the lives of other people.  In that sense, he is farther removed from society than Farrell’s character. But he makes a serious mistake.  He gets involved.  There are also some very fine secondary characters.  At the top of that list is Albert Brooks, who plays a businessman and second-rate gangster. Like Thewlis in London Boulevard, a whole movie could be made by spinning off Brooks’ complex character.  Ron Perlman does a good job as Brooks’ more violent partner.  And Bryan Cranston continues to show what a fine actor he is as Gosling’s not quite up to snuff mentor. Good to see Russ Tamblyn (West Side Story) play a role in this striking film. Nicholas Winding Refn, a Dane, directed.

There’s no question that Gosling’s character is the strong, silent type (a lot of screen time, but not a lot of lines to memorize).  However, his performance is mesmerizing. His character knows what’s coming. So do we. It’s a fine ending, but no surprise to him or us. Farrell realizes the danger he is putting himself in and does what he needs to do anyway however he is surprised by how it ends.  And so are we.  Two very worthwhile, but extremely violent films that are meant to be seen together or at least discussed in tandem.

Beer, I think, is night’s choice.  Lots of pub drinking in London Boulevard. And if I remember correctly, there were lots of cans of beer in Drive. So this time, just pick your favorite brand.

Film Pairing— Movies Of Our Times: The Ides of March, Margin Call

Films do many things for us. They allow us to escape and to engage in worlds we can only imagine with a little creative assistance. They can make us look at things in new ways and embrace ideas larger than ourselves. They can also merely act as a mirror of our times. In some ways, this last objective is the least worthy. But to look at it in another way, they are saying “we have a problem here,” and, at least by implication, “what are you going to do about it?” They are calls to action.

Both The Ides of March and Margin Call give us a real, not particularly sensational, but somehow riveting view of two very serious problems we face in this early part of the 21^st Century — corruption in our political and financial institutions. In other hands, the subjects could be boring. Not here.

Ides is pretty much George Clooney’s movie. He co-wrote it, co-produced it, directed it and starred in it. But that is not to say he demanded center stage. Smart guy that he is, he was willing to chance letting others show him up. Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood, and Marissa Tomei were among those who shared the screen and did so extremely well.

Clooney plays a presidential candidate trying to get the Democratic party’s nomination. Much of what we’ve seen this year with the real Republicans should show how sleazy the process is above ground. This film takes a candidate “you can believe in” and pretty much destroys the myth and reinforces the notion that anyone falling in love (and that doesn’t have to mean romantically) with a politician is destined for a broken heart. As is the case with most really good films, supporting roles (and their players) are as fascinating if not more than the principals.

Margin Call is, in many ways, less cinematic. It is small-screen stuff, very seldom leaving the offices of an investment banking firm. It will not suffer on your flat-screen TV. But that doesn’t diminish the tight and surprisingly suspenseful story that unfolds. The movie also benefits from a remarkable cast. Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Simon Baker, Demi Moore and Stanley Tucci are among the players who are on a sinking ship. Their solvency and that of the firm are literally (and I do mean to say that) on borrowed time. A lowly worker discovers what management doesn’t know, the bank is about to fail. By the time they verify his findings management understands it only has hours to figure out what and who to throw overboard. As in Ides, the solution usually comes from those who have the coldest of hearts.

The only film that could be better than these two is a third that can as effectively weave together the two themes with the same quality of screenplay, acting and directing as these two accomplish. And a final word about the acting, these two films show that the current pool of English language acting talent is as good if not better than it ever was. These are repertory performances with rich, deep characterizations in tight, well-written dramas.

The Ides of March is up for an Academy Award for best-adapted screenplay (it was based on a play), and Margin Call is nominated for best original screenplay, though no doubt inspired by actual events. Both films have been honored many times over by various film-related organizations.

If we want to drink what the characters drink, we’d probably go for the Scotch. These are essentially East Coast films, so a Chardonnay is out of the question.