Movie Reviews, Last Week

Uncomfortable (Printable Version , E-mail to a Friend )
Two very different films, two very different feelings

A couple years back, I rented this Japanese movie, The Audition. Totally freaky. Basically, the story is about this old Japanese dude who has auditions for a new girlfriend.
 
And it actually seems like it’s going to work out for the guy . . . until you find out the girl is a complete psychopath. I’m not exaggerating at all. Totally psycho.
 
She’s got these bags of laundry in her apartment (where she just sits by the telephone) that may or may not actually be filled with laundry. Perhaps they have things that can, oh, I dunno, twitch and twist and move.
 
Freaky flick. I highly recommend it to those of you who like twisted flicks. It’s a bit slow moving at the onset, but the payoff is totally worth it.
 
Anyway, this movie, Hard Candy, reminds me of The Audition. It has a certain amount of, shall we say, discomfort to it. There have been scenes in movies where I just didn’t want to watch. I wanted to turn my head or lift my knees to my chest. The Audition had one of those scenes. So did American History X (remember the curb?).
 
There’s definitely some of that going on here. So without further ado . . .
 
A girl and a guy are talking via instant messages. He’s a photographer of some kind. She’s underage, 14.
 
You’re uncomfortable before there’s ever a character on the screen. For a second, you hope maybe the girl isn’t a girl, but someone like Jude Law in Closer. But no.
 
They agree to meet at a local coffee shop.
 
Once there, neither has the bravado they had online. Hayley (Ellen Page) looks awfully underage. Jeff (Patrick Wilson) looks like the balding 30-something he is.
 
They get some coffee, some snacks and then go to a corner to talk. He actually seems on the up and up, other than the whole meeting an underage girl from the internet thing. He mentions a time or two about how she’s too young for him. How he’ll have to wait four years for her.
 
Hayley, meanwhile, comes off like a typical self-absorbed teen. She talks about being bored, about how smart she is. She plays coy.
 
Then a thing happens. They agree to go to his place, and it seems to be her idea. You tell your kids to stay away from strangers and then they go and invite themselves into the lion’s den.
 
But Jeff still seems on the level. He doesn’t put the moves on her. He doesn’t attempt to touch her. He just talks.
 
While he’s talking, she’s exploring his house. She’s talking to him about his job. He’s a photographer. He works out of his home. One room is a studio. On his walls hang pictures of underage models. A little fishy, but then a lot of models break into the big time when they’re just teens. They still don’t really have hips then, after all.
 
Jeff brings Hayley a glass of water. She refuses to drink it. Says they tell girls her age to never drink anything they didn’t mix themselves.
 
So she heads into the kitchen. Instead of water, she cooks up some screwdrivers. That’s about the point the film veers out of control.
 
Up until that moment, you keep expecting some sort of nefarious activity from Jeff. After all, he did arrange to meet an underage girl at a coffee shop. There’s something not quite right with the guy’s wiring.
 
As for Hayley, she’s just a typical, bright teenager who’s exploring her power as a woman.
 
Isn’t she?
 
There’s tension in the film by the nature of the subject matter. An older man and a teenage girl. It’s not right. You’ll feel uncomfortable. You’re meant to feel uncomfortable. But don’t worry. It’ll get worse.
 
Maybe you’ve heard the expression “twist the knife slowly.” This film does. It sticks you in the thigh with a butter knife then gives the thing a quarter turn about every 15 minutes for about an hour and a half.
 
You’re going to squirm in your seat. You’re going to wonder how it’s going to end. You’re going to worry and second guess and fidget the entire time. As you’re meant to.
 
Just as one of the characters manipulates the other, you’re being manipulated by the film itself, and in that, it’s masterful. It’s a better thriller than I’ve seen in a long, long time. Sure, there’s some stuff in it that doesn’t work, that doesn’t make sense. But that’s only as I type now, working the story over in my head. At the time, I was riveted.
 
You will be, too.
 
Part of it is the situation. There is torture in the film, and it is gruesome, but not in the way you think. Think Hitchcock and you’ll be closer to the mark. Your imagination is your enemy here.
 
But a large part of the movie’s success is the writing and acting. The writing is edgy, the topic provocative. It would’ve failed miserably with bad acting.
 
Ellen starts off sort of overdoing it, but that may be the character. By the midpoint of the film, she had me convinced. Of what I can’t tell you, but it’s a pretty terrific performance. At one point, they have her in a red hooded sweatshirt, as though she’s Little Red Riding Hood, which is funny, considering.          
 
Patrick also comes through. He’s the nice guy you want to like, but then there’s that whole internet predator thing he’s got going. Another good performance.
 
Bah. Forget the hyping. Here’s the straight deal. This movie is hard to watch because it makes you (and I mean you) uncomfortable immediately and then keeps you that way for the entire film. You’ll want to stop watching it. You will. But you won’t. You’ll stay the whole time because you just have to know how it turns out.
 
And for the guys, I’m just going to warn you, this movie could scar you for life. I won’t say how. Just trust me. Prepare to cross your legs and rock back and forth. And that’s all the hints I’ll give.
 
Good luck and don’t miss it.
 
No Romance, No Comedy
 
And so we’ve got The Break-Up. Honestly, I don’t even care about this movie after having watched Hard Candy. If I’d seen Hard Candy first, I might’ve just called it good and not watched The Break-Up at all.
 
Let’s just get this out of the way up front. The Break-Up isn’t a comedy. Sure, it’s got some laughs. But you aren’t going to come out of this movie feeling all warm and fuzzy.
 
And if you take your significant other, let’s say you’ve been warned. There’ll be many a time when you’ll chuckle to break the uneasiness in the theatre.
 
The Break-Up is about a break-up, after all. It’s not The War of the Roses. There’s a reality to it you’re not going to enjoy.
 
So here’s the set-up: Brooke (Jennifer Anniston) and Gary (Vince Vaughn) have been dating for awhile. Just long enough to move in together and buy a condo. And to figure out everything they don’t like about each other. Things are about to come to a head.
 
They have a big dinner party. It gets off to a bad start when Gary doesn’t bring home enough lemons for the centerpiece Brooke wants to make. And then he doesn’t want to help her with anything. He just wants to lie on the couch.
 
The party goes kinda bad.
 
Then things get bad and end with her doing the break-up speech and him sleeping on the couch. After that, the war begins. Each tries to one-up the other in meanness. They try to make each other jealous.
 
She says over and over she doesn’t want the relationship to end, but she doesn’t tell him that. And by the time he figures it out . . .
 
There are a handful of funny moments. But there are also a lot of arguments that are perhaps uncomfortably real. In fact, the arguments are so real, if the laughs weren’t there, the movie would be totally depressing.
 
It begins on a low-note and then ends just as advertised; they’re broken up. No happy ending. I know. That’s a bit of a spoiler. But they’re selling this as a kind of romantic comedy, and there’s nothing romantic about it. Nothing happy.
 
And that’s that. Sorry for the lack of rant. I was on vacation last weekend and felt pretty good about myself. Just thought I’d get on with things. I’m sure I’ll have something to complain about next week, however, so be sure to check back.