Hey, everyone. Capone in Chicago here, with quite an array of choices that are hopefully making their way into your local specialty theater. If you don't have a decent art house near you, my advice is to move as soon as possible. This is too important a problem to ignore a moment longer. Let's get to it…
THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE
I've come to realize over the last few years that Steven Soderbergh is my favorite American director working today. He may not be the best one working today, but he's my favorite. The guy can deliver a commercially viable and highly successful film at one point during the year, and then turn around and make two or three films that he has to know will not make a dime. I wouldn't never go so far as to call him brave, but he is fearless (there is a big difference in my eyes). I don't always like his films, but I'll be damned if I'm not really happy that there is somebody out there making them, taking risks, experimenting, and more often than not creating works that mesmerize the eyes and captivate the brain. Perhaps more telling, I have yet to revisit one of his films and found it dated or less compelling--quite the opposite, in fact. I stumbled upon his remake of SOLARIS on cable the other day and couldn't tear my eyes from it. I was something of a fan of the film after my first viewing years ago, but seeing it again a couple weeks back, I recognized its strengths with far more clarity, even as a fan of Tarkovsky's original.
Soderbergh is also a machine, which doesn't make him a better filmmaker, but it does make it fun to see what this man who seems committed to not repeating himself (OCEAN'S 11, 12, and 13 aside) has in store for us next. In one year, he put out the two-part CHE epic, continues editing his Spalding Gray documentary (which he expects will hit the fall festival circuit this year, with a 2010 release date to follow), has scheduled an October release for the Matt Damon-starring THE INFORMANT, and is prepping his Cleopatra rock musical (called CLEO) and a new film with Brad Pit (MONEYBALL), both set for 2011 release. And then there's his low-budget latest work, THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE, which was pulled together in a fashion similar to his excellent, sneaks-up-on-you 2005 work BUBBLE. Far less linear than that story of a small-town Ohio murder and more a snapshot of a woman's life and a time in very recent history, GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE follows the life of a high-priced call girl in Manhattan, played by the captivating adult film actress Sasha Grey.
Now, everything I know about Ms. Grey I've found out about her since seeing her strangely disconnected performance in this film. A recent profile in Rolling Stone filled in all the details, and it's almost impossible for me to synch up the woman in this movie to the career as a no holds (or holes) barred porn star. But I'm going to focus on what I've seen, which is a genuinely haunting performance by an actress I'd like to see make a clothed career for herself. She is occasionally naked in this film, although never performing a sex act, but the unexpected (on my part) result is watching an unclothed woman who looks so comfortable and natural (no implants on Sasha) naked that you feel like you're viewing a private moment in someone's home. The title of the film refers to a type of role Grey's Chelsea plays for some of her clients. Rather than simply sleep with them for an hour, they pay for her to play the role of a girlfriend--the go to dinner, converse on any and every subject, and head to a hotel room to complete an entire evening of intimate activities that go way beyond just sex.
We get bits and pieces of Chelsea's professional work and her disintegrating personal life with her loving boyfriend (Chris Santos). These slices of Chelsea's world are given to us out of order, in a seemingly random pattern. But Soderbergh has ordered these scenes in such a way that Chelsea is revealed to us just at the right pace and the right measure, hitting beat after beat. A single statement from her might tell us all we need to know about her upbringing, her state of mind, her true feelings on love or sex. One sequence that Soderbergh keeps coming back to shows Chelsea being interviewed by a reporter, and it is revealed that there might be much she'll do sexually but certain things that are far too intimate to discuss in the light of day. Another sequence shows her meeting with an influential blogger who reviews and ranks call girls, who seems to care less about collecting comments on Chelsea and more about sampling the goods himself.
We also see her strikingly handsome, personal trainer boyfriend in the company of some Wall Street types attempting to take a quick trip to Vegas. He doesn't know these guys, but they want to bring him along because he's good looking, and they think he'll attract women to their roving band of Vince Vaughn wannabes. His relationship with Chelsea is clearly in trouble, as she meets a man she believes might be the real deal and more than just another wealthy client.
For the first half hour or so, I was trying to get my bearings and trying to figure out who was who and what came before and after what. But it became clear early on that most of that doesn't matter. Soderbergh and screenwriters Brian Koppelman and David Levien (OCEAN'S 13, THE ILLUSIONIST, ROUNDERS) aren't trying to tell a story. They're more interested in creating a rich and meaningful profile of a woman who appears confident and self-assuring in nearly every situation, while hiding and protecting her deep desires to find someone to be a positive influence in her life. She's certainly not a hooker with a heart of gold; her somewhat cruel treatment of her boyfriend after she meets this new man is proof of that. But that doesn't stop us from rooting for her and caring about where her life goes after the movie is over. THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE is not simply a film about the life of a call girl. I'm a big fan of Showtime's "Secret Diary of a Call Girl," which covers every juicy detail about just such a character. Chelsea's story is about what happens between appointments, in that far less certain landscape she calls a life. A part of me hopes I never see Grey in a porno, because I'm guessing my illusion about her possibilities as an actress will be lessened. But what she puts forth in this film is outstanding stuff, and Soderbergh handles the material in a way that never feels seedy or gratuitous. Sometimes a buttload of T&A is a great move, but here it would have felt so out of place. Can't wait to see how Soderbergh dazzles me in a few months with something new.
OUTRAGE
It's nearly impossible to discuss the latest and angriest film by director Kirby Dick (SICK, TWIST OF FAITH, THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED) without it turning into a discussion of the methods and intensions of those profiled. You may have heard OUTRAGE is a film that exposes in-the-closet politicians and other policy makers (most of whom are Republicans); that is incorrect. In fact, OUTRAGE profiles the men and women who run blogs and publications that do the outing, and justify it by saying that they only target those people who consistently vote against gay-rights issues while leading the lifestyle in private. Anyone they see as holding back the cause (whether the cause is same-sex marriage, health care/research, hate crime legislation, etc.) is thoroughly investigated (they hold themselves to the same standards as the New York Times in terms of checking sources), given a chance to out themselves before the news is released, and then outed in a very public manner.
If you weren't aware that some of these politicians were said to be gay, I guess this news would be new to you. But the film goes beyond simply naming names. It exposes how the media will rip a politician a new asshole (a la John Edwards) for having a straight affair, but largely ignores the often-blatant activities of closeting lawmakers, many of whom are married with children. Special attention is paid to Jim McGreevey, who is interviewed extensively here, and Congressman Barney Frank, both of whom came out on their own. But it feels strange and voyeuristic to hear details about Idaho Senator Larry Craig or former New York Mayor Ed Koch or current Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who has long been said to be living the gay life despite also being accused of being a womanizer.
More aggravating is hearing about closeted members of the Reagan and George W. Bush administrations who steered the gay agenda away from forward-thinking policy. Dick really allows his subjects to tear into Mary Cheney, the lesbian daughter of the former vice president, who was very much involved in the gay rights movement until her father became a candidate. Her hypocrisy is legendary and appalling. But I'm not really reviewing the movie, am I? Dick's fury is palpable, and it's kind of intriguing to see a film that has such a clear viewpoint. Is this a form of propaganda? You bet, and most of those who go to see this film will be members of the choir anyway. But that doesn't make it any less compelling. Not much time is devoted to issues of right to privacy, which seem completely and totally violated by the practices on display in this film, but perhaps this behavior can be looked upon as a preemptive attack, which apparently America is OK with in certain circumstances. The gay community is feeling threatened, and it's fighting back. No matter who your opinion on any of the issues discussed in OUTRAGE, I don't see how can leave the theater after seeing it feeling anything but, well, OUTRAGE mixed with a great deal of enlightenment. It may not be ethical, but it's damn entertaining, and isn't that what's important? (It's spelled S-a-r-c-a-s-m, folks!)
ADORATION
And while I'm on a roll namedropping directors I like a great deal, let's talk about Atom Egoyan's latest, which I think is his comment on post-9/11 paranoia. But like most films from the Canadian master (THE SWEET HEREAFTER, CALENDAR, EXOTICA, FELICIA'S JOURNEY), there is never just one theme. He weaves into his story of high school student Simon (Devon Bostick), who invents a biography for his late father that casts him as a terrorist who was willing to sacrifice his pregnant wife by sneaking a bomb aboard a plane she was flying in. The idea to write this story and submit it to the internet for peer review (shown in a series of webcasts) comes from an assignment from the boy's French teacher (Egoyan regular/wife Arsinee Khanjian) who has the class translate a story similar to the one Simon comes up with about his dad. Simon's parents actually are dead, so he lives with his troubled uncle (Scott Speedman) who is unaware of both this fiction his nephew has created and the strange connection the teacher has with Simon.
Egoyan almost can't help but create a pallet onto which we project what we think are his subtle meanings and messages. And while I felt that the acting in the film is across-the-board solid, the deeper meaning is a bit fuzzy. Everyone in this film is damaged in multiple ways, some in much more interesting ways than others. But there are some exchanges and moments of silence where I'm pretty sure the writer-director wants us to contemplate what has just happened. As he often does, Egoyan mixes up his timelines; but thanks to Simon's story, he also tosses in sequences that never actually happened, simply to give us visuals to go along with the boy's written fiction. I don't think I was ever confused by what I was watching--Egoyan is simply to skilled a storyteller to allow that to happen--but who I did find perplexing is what he hoped the audience is going to take away from the experience of watching ADORATION. I didn't particularly like any of the characters, which isn't a prerequisite for me recommending a movie, but I could have at least used a viable entry point into this story. The film carries with it Egoyan's usual lovely and atmospheric cinematography (courtesy of Paul Sarossy), but that wasn't quite enough for me to fully enjoy the experience of watching this disjointed, confused film. It was a close call for me, but more often than not I found myself wondering why I should care about these characters than I did actually enjoying their company.
-- Capone
capone@aintitcoolmail.com
