Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
I reeeeeeeally want to see this film. I know it’s not one of the most hyped pictures of the season, but I don’t care. I think that trailer’s great, and I’ve been smiling about “Champagne for my real friends, and real pain for my sham friends!” since I first heard it. I always root for Spike, and it looks like he nailed this one.
Then again, I haven’t seen it, and the following few guys have, so let’s hear what they have to say. Shrevie’s up first...
Harry!
It's Shrevie, occasional talkbacker/reviewer (Royal Tennenbaums, Sum Of All Fears).
I saw a screening earlier this evening and had to help get the word out on Spike Lee's "The 25th Hour", Spike's most mature, focused, and moving film to date and easily his best since "Do The Right Thing". In many ways it finally fulfills the promise of that 1989 masterpiece as he finally seems to have escaped his own tendencies to preach or go off on unnecessary narrative tangents (such as Milla Jojovich's hooker in the coulda-been-great "He Got Game" or the inumerable themes and stories thrown at the collage that was "Summer of Sam").
"25th Hour", which follows drug dealer Edward Norton's final day before being sent to prison for seven years, starts with a great hook, the sort that would allow any writer to play around with any number of ideas, and goes from there, crackling with brilliant dialogue and totally honest performances from every single damn actor in the film. Rosario Dawson has her breakthrough here after slogging through Men In Black 2 and Pluto Nash, as Norton's devoted but level-headed girlfriend, giving a smart, sensual and street-wise performance. Phillip Seymour Hoffman, already a legendary character actor, plays another of his insecure shlubs but for some inexplicable reason makes it seem fresh. Maybe it's that he seems so relaxed, so absolutely certain who he is in this role that all we have to do is read his mind instead of his gestures (he doesn't touch his forehead once!). And Barry Pepper is a damn revelation as Norton's other best friend. He gives a roller-coaster ride of a performance, exploring the complexities and contradictions of a stock broker from the neighborhood who has so many contrasting opinions and feelings that you can never define who he really is in any easy way. Brian Cox and Anna Paquin are also well-cast and give right-on performances as Edward Norton's guilt-ridden father and Hoffman's Lolita-esque student.
But of course the center of the story is Norton who carries such a reality and a sadness with him that you can almost see his mind careening backwards and forwards in time, trying to get a sense of his life and his identity before both are to be taken from him the next morning. It's one of the best performances so far in what's shaping up to be a real actor's career. The kind built in the 70s by actors such as Robert Duvall, Dustin Hoffman, and Gene Hackman. This guy's the real thing.
But it's at least as much Spike's movie. For the first time you can feel all the things he's passionate about (How do you take responsibility for your actions in an environment that makes it nearly impossible to "do the right thing"? How do you love the neighbor you really want to kill?), but with a totally objective grace. You simply take in the characters without feeling the director breathing down your neck. The editing style alone is unique, transforming what could have been a series of jump-cuts into the precise rhythms of a jazz drummer skipping into 6/4 time. There's a few fun Spikisms here and there but mostly it's a grittily elegant movie about the city.
And boy is this a New York movie. I saw it right here in NYC on 42nd Street and early on there is a tour-de-force rant on New York City that is obviously an extended sequel to the famous racist rant sequence in "Do The Right Thing" that this time leaves NOBODY in New York untouched. It was so dead-on that the audience was howling and applauding through the whole thing. Then there's the blatant, in-your-face references to September 11th from the opening credits, right through the whole movie. At first, I wasn't sure what it had to do with the story and I thought it was one of Lee's misguided tangents. But by the end, I realized it's relevence, at the very least in dealing with the issues of tolerance and responsibility. And you know what? Even if I didn't find it relevent I thought, this is New York. This is what was happening at that moment, both for the filmmakers and the characters (the great Brian Cox's character is retired FDNY), and it was absolutely truthful to include it. Hell, anyone living in New York last year can tell you it was relevent to brushing your teeth. It was the only thing there was. Some people might be put off by it, and more likely, put off by the last section of the movie which I won't reveal but is an obvious but brilliant and effective riff off of Martin Scorsese's "The Last Temptation of Christ". But Spike Lee's talents have always included the ability to challenge audiences in intelligent and powerful ways and any elements that might rub you the wrong way deserve a second look.
"The 25th Hour" is one of the best films of what's turning into (in the twenty-FOURTH hour) a great year for movies. After Punch-Drunk Love, Far From Heaven, Solaris, Femme Fatale, Bowling For Columbine, Secretary, Standing In The Shadows Of Motown and the still-haven't-seen Quiet American, Rabbit Proof Fence, Talk to Her, Russian Ark, Auto Focus, Gangs of New York, Catch Me If You Can, The Hours, About Schmidt, Narc, Personal Velocity, Adaptation and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, it's starting to feel a little like the fall of 1999. I love movies!
Yours sincerely,
Shrevie
New York City, 2002
Having seen GANGS OF NEW YORK and CATCH ME IF YOU CAN and CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND and most of the others on his list, I can agree with Shrevie... it’s a heck of a Christmas so far, and gettin’ better every day.
Here’s Hooper with another quick peek...
Yo. Caught the 25th HOUR at the DGA last night with Spike speaking afterwards. I always forget how great those Q&A's are. People are hilarious. They ask questions that are always more about themselves... "Um, hello Spike. I noticed that you used a lot of bridges in the movie. On 9/11, the only way I could contact my friends was when they were standing on a bridge leaving the city. Was that intentional?" "No." "Okay, well, I think that from your movie I got that the bridge was a symbol for bridging your life..." "No, we just shot there." And on and on. On top of that, people revert right back to their junior high days. One black woman asked Spike why he chose Ed Norton over a black actor since blacks have a bigger prison population than whites and you should have seen the dirty looks and clucking all around her. Spike answered that Edward's a great actor and the part called for an Irishman. All the clucking was to let Spike know that, hey, we're with YOU, brother. We're on your side. It made me laugh.
That said, the movie was solid and provocative, though it's reach exceeded it's grasp a little bit. Spike uses the 9/11 aftermath to evoke a sense that New York is bruised but not broken, just like this character Monty. It's a little difficult to take the largest terrorist attack in the history of the world and have that symbolize our little drug dealer (there's a dog in the movie that serves the purpose much better). That said, I'm grateful there's a film that captures in a documentary sort-of way, New York, at a very specific time in history. And the film looks amazing.
Finally, there's a COOL HAND LUKE poster in Monty's living room. I found this interesting because that movie is such a Christian allegory. And in 25th HOUR we have: the main character as a healer, another as a Judas figure, a third as someone who denies Monty behind his back but swears fidelity to him to his face, a last supper, a brutal beating, a march to punishment, and a last temptation (though this was more Kazantzakis's notion then anything biblical, although Christ did ask the big man if there was another way out of this.) I didn't read Benioff's book or the script, but Spike was quick to give the writer credit (refreshing) when asked about plot elements or character choices, so I'm guessing the keys to the lock lie with him.
Anyway, interesting film and one that stays with you. Since those are rare, I recommend it. Side note: Spike's favorite movie of the year is BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE.
Call me Hooper.
Interesting that both of today’s reviewers brought up Christian themes in the film. Now I’m doubly curious...
"Moriarty" out.
