Have you ever seen a movie that you wish you had something... anything to do with? You know, you've just seen a flick that's new, that you know damn well will be talked about on down the line. When the disappointment of Godzilla and the Avengers are nothing more than granules of dead brain cells that no longer contain that information. When your grandkids are in film school and they are supposed to see the great crime films... this could very well be one of them.
A SIMPLE PLAN is utterly confounding because for me... I'm speechless. I once thought FARGO was a GREAT film. No... this is a great film. This film isn't a good film, it's not a wonderful film, it is a great film.
I just sat through a film that made me go through the entire catalogue of emotional responses to visual stimuli. The whole cliche of "it made me laugh, it made my cry, it's gonna make me kiss many future hours of my life goodbye" is absolutely true. This is the best film the Coen Brothers could have, but haven't made.
Why the hell am I lauding so many praises upon this flick?
Because of the following...
It's absolutely perfect.
Why?
Unlike almost every crime film I have ever seen, this film has real people, people we have met, have been or are. As a result I was completely sucked in. At first you may think... "Hey this is like FARGO", but other than snow...lotsa snow... this flick is very very different.
One, it's take on crimes and punishments, sins vs the good life... The portrait of greed, paranoia and why a simple plan can go terribly wrong... it's all enough to make you forget who you are, that you are watching a film, that you or any of your life experiences are nothing, that your world does not matter, and ultimately that life could be so much worse than it is.
Billy Bob Thornton is absolutely the leader for BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR, he has never ever ever been this good. He plays a "Lennie Small", but one we have all met, that we all feel for, that we all love. Someone that's aware of his shortcomings, that knows he's ugly, stupid and unlovable. And there is nothing worse than that.
I won't repeat one incident that occurs in this film, but I will tell a story that made me bond 110% with Billy Bob's character, you'll understand after you've seen the film what I'm talking about... or perhaps you've had the experience, the feeling, witnessed it, or caused it.
I've been fat my whole concious life, and I've known it. There's always been that feeling in me that my choices in life were limited by the inches around my waist. And I think the feeling that we might all not have a perfect love has been there at some point in our life. But the worst thing is when someone knows this, someone you love/have a crush on/harbor feelings for... you know... Someone you see as a holy grail, comes up to you, plays you for a while, and then you realize that it's all a charade, that behind your back there's giggling, like your the punchline to an evil joke.
Specifically there was a series of incidences in Junior High School (yeah it's a long time ago, and yes I have been over it for a long time). I came in very confident. Somehow that whole 'Fat' thing was basically reconciled in me by the 4th grade, so when people did the lard-ass or whale or blubberbutt bits, well it didn't hurt because I was a lardass, a whale and a blubberbutt. But when I entered Junior High there was a new level of torment. In the 'Glee Squad' there was a group of 'Goddesses' babes that I thought about well before the concept of masturbation even existed. They were simply... untouchables, works of art to be admired in the sun's glow, a flourescent flicker and the low wattage hallways of Lanier. They'd walk around in their purple pleated Glee Squad skirts with their purple lead shielding panties, and they ruled the school. After about two weeks they chose me to be their prey. It started with them sitting at my table during lunch. I was painfully shy at this time, I had the confidence of a lowly mollusk. But with them close, I could get a better look at em, and in my dense cranial activity, I pondered that perhaps they liked me. Then they started doing things like feeling my thigh, slapping my ass and hugging me and kissing a cheek (on my face). Then they'd run off laughing with their friends and money would exchange. That's when it hit me, I was a circus freak, the fat man on display for a ten cent ticket. Then I went home and I thought long and hard about how to handle the situation, and I came to the conclusion that I would simply slap their asses, squeeze their tits, and show em what it's like. They left me alone after that. I stood up to their games and fired back. After that, there was a certain amount of freedom in me. Billy Bob never stood up.
Billy Bob is undescribable in this film. It is the most powerful performance I've seen this year. It's amazing. In all of it's 35 mm glory I just stared slack jawed. It wasn't just me, Quint, Tom Joad and Annette Kellerman all were there to back me up with their level of being stunned. There was only one thing not complete in this film and that's the score. I have one hope in the score, I hope that the music the teddy bear makes (or should make) would also be the overlying theme of the entire film. The score needs to be unobtrusive, because anything too loud... too emotional could possibly taint the brilliance of these performances.
This human drama, this story of chaos and fate and futility is what great filmmaking is about. And your answer to the following question may forever be changed...
What would you do if you came across $4.4 million dollars out in the woods, and you could just take it home?
My answer before this movie was, take the money.... now... well it's kinda like when I saw Treasure of Sierra Madre... Money..gold...fortune & glory... it ain't all it's cracked up to be, the devil's in the details...
When this film comes out... don't think...don't consider it... go see the movie and marvel at what makes a GREAT film.
