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Moriarty’s REIGN OVER ME Review!
Mike Binder’s an interesting filmmaker.
As far as I can tell, he’s not chasing any trends. He’s not trying to make the next giantsupermegablockbuster. He’s just a guy who seems to be honing a personal voice, film after film, getting better as he does. He’s never become a hipster fave like Wes Anderson or PTA, and he’s never achieved the pop culture significance of Woody Allen in the early days. But he manages to keep getting funding and he manages to keep making fairly personal films the way he wants to.
I admire that.
And, in a happy coincidence, I also like his movies.
REIGN OVER ME is probably the biggest release he’s ever had. Before this, his highest profile films were THE UPSIDE OF ANGER, and his HBO series MIND OF THE MARRIED MAN benefited greatly from its airtime.
But this time out, Binder’s working with a bonafide giant movie star, Adam Sandler, and one of the best actors he’s ever directed, Don Cheadle, and the result is a film that I found very moving in places, a film that’s rich with character and quirk but that never feels forced. In fact, one of the things I like most about it is the way it just sort of takes its time and unfolds without feeling like a standard three-act structure with everything carefully laid out according to some Robert McKee idea of the way things must be. REIGN OVER ME plays sort of messy, with a number of different tones depending on the scene, and that collision of things is what makes it work for me.
It takes real balls to bring 9/11 into a fictional film as a dramatic device right now. Sure, we’ve seen things like UNITED 93 and WORLD TRADE CENTER last year, but both of those were very careful to try and pin their stories to “actual events,” however loosely. With REIGN OVER ME, Binder dares to create a fictional character and tie him into the events, and it works because the magnitude of that event explains the almost autistic retreat from grief that Charlie (Sandler) makes in his life. And it’s instantly understandable for any of us right now because it’s still such a fresh wound for us. I like that Binder doesn’t dwell on it by showing us endless shots of Ground Zero, and he doesn’t make it political at all. This is simply a film about how you are supposed to pick yourself up and dust yourself off after being devastated.
It’s strange that Binder and Sandler both started as stand-up comedians, but in a way, it makes sense. Yes, this is a film about grief and loss, but it’s also a film that contains a lot of sly laughs. Finding humor and warmth in the middle of such a raw nerve of a movie isn’t easy, and Binder doesn’t force it. I like how the film gradually builds the rapport between Charlie and Alan (Cheadle), his college roommate who he really hasn’t seen since. Their reunion is an accident, a casual encounter on the street that leads to a rekindling of their friendship. Considering Charlie never sees his old friends and rarely socializes with anyone, it’s a minor miracle that he’s willing to open up and let Alan get close to him. Part of it is because he’s reaching out to his past and part of it is because Alan wasn’t part of the period in his life where he had a family. It’s almost like Alan offers him a chance to simply edit that part of his life out completely.
There are a lot of great textural details in the film, whether it’s the videogame that Charlie is obsessed with (SHADOWS OF THE COLOSSUS, if you’re familiar with it) and the way it focuses on loss and the repeated collapse of giant creatures like towers, or the music that Charlie loses himself in, including The Who’s QUADROPHENIA, which is where the film gets its title. Watching the relationship between the two of them unfold, you keep waiting for the typical Hollywood fireworks to kick in, but they never do. Instead, Charlie remains unpredictable and frustrating and sort of broken, and Alan never has any giant ephiphany of his own. There are small moments of growth and change instead, which seems much more realistic, and because of that, the film ends up being much more affecting. My wife and I were both taken aback at how powerful Sandler is in his few moments of release, and I wish more directors would reach out to him and really take advantage of this persona he’s developed. So far, only Paul Thomas Anderson and Binder have really figured out how to do that. James L. Brooks tried, but he never cracked the script, and so Sandler ended up stranded, doing decent work but without any focus.
It's not just Sandler who does nice work here, of course. If Cheadle wasn't able to hold up his end of the duet, it wouldn't work. Cheadle has a lot to do here, playing a lot of levels, and I loved the stuff he played with Saffron Burrows in particular. I've never really loved her on film, but she connects in her small role. Same with Jada Pinkett Smith. Binder always gets good work out of his actors, and I like that he plays a small role here as well, and that he doesn't play it for laughs.
REIGN OVER ME is probably the most accomplished film that Binder’s made so far in terms of cinematography and polish, and it makes great use of New York as a character. Another reason 9/11 makes sense in this film as a device is because New York itself has had to rebound just like Charlie, and if the city’s been able to do it, then there’s hope for the people that make up that city to do the same. What ultimately makes this film work, and what makes it stick, is the way it offers up that hope as more than just a band-aid or a pithy gesture. It shows hope as a process, as something you work at, as something you have to fight for. And, more importantly, something that is as crucial to our survival as food or drink or even air.
Here’s hoping Binder’s next time at bat yields the same sort of results. He continues to impress, and I hope audiences find this film and give it a chance.
I know I’ve been slow on the draw on these reviews this weekend, but real life intrudes sometimes. I’ve still got a SHOOTER review to put up sometime today, and then I’ll get to GRINDHOUSE as well as some DVD content for the rest of the week.
Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles
Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles
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I love the Who, hope the film does the song justice.
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It will probably manage to do more justice to the song than the film adaption of Quadrophenia did.
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Damn you Michael Bay
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which is the punk and which is the godfather?
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And he's from the Detroit area.
I like how it's immersed in NYC, without all the usual shots of noted buildings and such. Movie wasn't bad. Sandler was ok. -
I didn't realise it was by Mike Bender. I was so fucking impressed with his performance in The Upside of Anger. I kept thinking "who is this actor who plays such a wonderfully rich grey asshole" but then even more "who the fuck wrote such a wonderfully rich grey asshole into this movie" and then found out he was the writer/director. Guess you get to do that in those cases. Man. I was fucking impressed. And that's just one great thing about that movie. I'm going to Reign Over Me tomorrow.
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New York is fine. Stop exploiting us.
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I went and saw it with a friend when it came out and had garnered all this positive buzz, and found it unwatchable. Binder has no business making movies - UPSIDE was the kind of everything-AND-the-kitchen-sink mess that film students with more ambition than talent come up with - and I'm continually amazed that all these high profile stars end up in his movies. Then again, I don't get the attraction to Paul Haggis either, and he keeps churning out shit projects.
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Has been The Man since his Picket Fences days. Without him as a foil, Fyvesh Finkel would have been like nails on a chalkboard to me. I will probably rent this just because I don't trust Adam Sandler in a dramatic role. Punch Drunk Love sucked big time. Even Luis Guzman couldn't fix that abomination.
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it does? really? i'd have thought it'd be a fairly easy way out for an otherwise shitty filmmaker to give their film an unearned emotional and/or political resonance. you might say it takes guts to use 9/11 without being cheap or manipulative, and maybe Binder manages that feat. but merely to use 9/11 itself as a plot device or element of the story takes no real courage as far as i can see.
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I mean it just happened last week or something. How'd they even get this thing written and made in that time? They're like the South Park guys with their speedy topical material.
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If a movie's job is to entertain, this one fails on every level. Just imagine a retarded As Good As It Gets and you've saved yourself the price of a ticket.
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...then Rescue Me has even bigger balls, since it's been using the "New York and individual characters recover from 9/11 in their own ways" storyline for three years now.In fact, reading this mini review of Reign, I was struck by how similar the tone described sounds to the general tone of Rescue Me.That truly is a fantastic series. Maybe this is a decent film? But I don't know if I'd go giving it credit for being any kind of brave or ballsy just for being set in a reaistic world.
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I think the Quadrophenia film is a fine movie in itself, but didn't have a chance in the world to capture the album, that thrives without a storyline getting in the way.
A good recent version of the song:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KGdJcpfgVHQ
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it didn't really know how to end, but it had a lot of heart.
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Just plain ol trite
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Pull my finger.
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a good solid movie; if anything a collection of great scenes. lots of good jokes too, surprisingly. Don Cheadle's hilarious in it. Strange things to say about a movie this dark and depressing but it's true. If you're put off by the 9/11 subject matter, that's cool. "that's like your opinion, man". me i thought it was pretty damn good. Sandler's performance is really heart-wrenching. The more I think about it, the more I like the movie. It's a really touching ode to friendship.
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and I don't think the other guy did either (is Ebert ever coming back?). Sorry Mori, but I don't think using 9/11 as a plot device is all that ballsy. Apart from the other uses listed above, CSI:NY used it to establish Gary Sinise's character in the first episode, as well as Leslie Bibb's character on In the Line of Fire (that was, what, 4 years ago?).
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Sandler = Williams, Cheadle = Bridges?
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The reason Binder gets to make all of his subpar movies is because his dad... Jack Binder is a gazillionaire who helps fund and gets a Producer credit on every Binder film.
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... I completely agree with you about RESCUE ME, a show I adore. I think there are some thematic similarities, but RESCUE ME goes far, far darker than REIGN OVER ME ever does.
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Isn't that the theme song to "CSI: Buckingham Palace"?
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I couldn't even concentrate on the trailer as I was so distracted by the similarity every time Sandler was on. Uncanny.
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Is dead wrong. A? Jack Binder is my brother, not my father. B) He's not a 'gazillionaire' In fact; he doesn't have a pot to piss in.
C) He doesn't fund my movies. The healthy profits I get from selling arms to Iranians funds my stupid little movies.
D) (off topic) I have love for you.
Go see REIGN OVER ME. In theatres now. -
here it actually seems less forced than most other cases. To be honest it seems like a great movie but some of the vulgarity just seems unnecessary gleaned from the reviews I've read. Especially for such a sensitive film, but then I doubt I'll get much agreement there from the AICN. I'm sure it's realistic, blah, blah, blah....I'm sick of seeing that kind of realism in movies.
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comingsoon.net is better
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First in Bad Boys 2 the Cuban drug lords couldn't use the coast like they used to "after 9/11" and that's why they used KKK guys right... Sorry I just don't think it is that big of a deal I feel like 9/11 has been used in fictional context before a lot. Just here it's actually touching instead of just using it to be edgy.
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I always enjoy reading Mori's excellent and perceptive film reviews, but in this rare case, I'm inclined to side with most US film critics, who've mostly all panned the film and Sandler's acting. The film has a terrible title and was originally written for Tom Cruise, who rejected it.
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...I know, I know. Sorry, just couldn't resist.
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He couldn't connect with a character who's willfully detached from reality?
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I guess Mike Binder has two Talk Back accounts.
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Like Mori said elsewhere, there's no need for any other Grindhouse reviews now that Cumpston has chimed in. I'm glad to see a decidely non-geek flick get some attention here.
I'm curious, of the people here who have seen it, what did you think of the cinematography? This film was shot with Panavision's Genesis camera, the same HD camera used on Apocalypto, Flyboys, and Superman Returns.
One last thing: NYC is the greatest city in the world. (And Tom Cruise would have fucked this movie up.) -
Come to NYC to shoot your lousy show. Hell, all 27 of the Law and Order shows shoot here. There's just enough room left in town for David Caruso's massive ego. What a jojo.
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... the cinematography by Russ Alsobrook is really good. You'd never know it's the Genesis. So far, I've preferred the Viper, but I think that's just because the filmmaker who have used it (Mann, Fincher) have been more aggressive about trying out different visual extremes with it, while SUPERMAN RETURNS and APOCALYPTO looked a little too bright, a little too flat.
I met Alsobrook on the set of SUPER BAD, where he was using the Genesis again, and I think he really gets how to maximize the system and get the best out of it. -
Your post reminds me why it's so essential that anyone who doesn't agree with us must be subjugated and/or killed. Negotiation is a waste of time. Good show.
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thanks Mori, you are still the best reviewer on this site.
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I think the thing we'll start seeing is that DPs will start to take advantage of these new tools and push them and stretch them. The constant debate is HD vs Film, and that's not really an issue. These are just new tools. Just as you go to 16mm or use print stock to shoot with, so you'll see shooters mixing film with digital. What Mann did on Collateral was quite advanced, and he did what a true artist does. He filled his palette with different "paints" and used different brush strokes for different effects. Now that HD cameras like Genesis and Viper have full-size chips, they're quite "filmic," but I like that we're starting to see DPs concerned less with mocking film and more with telling the story.
The key advantage of Genesis over Viper is that you can use all the Panavision 35mm lenses with the Genesis, and no one beats Panavision when it comes to lenses. Of course, with all the image manipulation in post, directors like Fincher get incredible results regardless what the capture medium is.
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All this sensible talk about digital and HD is just not on! This is a place for mudslinging, not rational talk! Don't you know where you are? For shame!
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Sorry. Any fool could have checked imdb and found out the correct info. I will be seeing your film tomorrow. Did you and Adam enjoy meeting Pete and Roger backstage at the Hollywood Bowl?
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... so far. 300 was awesome and I haven't seen KNOCKED UP yet (which I'm sure I'll end up loving since Judd Apatow is my hero), but this film affected me like no other film has this year. I was saying to a friend of mine the other day that some films are entertaining, but mean nothing to you, while others... you just know while you're watching it that it's something you'll actually take with you when you leave the theatre. Yeah, that sounds lame, but after watching this film and actually being completely absorbed by it for two hours, it's just such a different experience than sitting and watching something like TRANSFORMERS, which is cool and all, but ultimately all surface. Anyway, doubt anyone will even read this now, I just had to write something (I live in South Africa and the film was just released here).
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