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The Testing of JAKOB THE LIAR trailers, PLUS a review of the film from Desslock
Hey folks, Harry here with our low level NRG guy again, but this time he's here to tell us about the testing of the JAKOB THE LIAR trailers. We haven't heard too much about this film other than people drawing parallels to LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL. Well, gosh... I guess we can't get enough holocaust movies right? I am especially fond of treating it all with a sense of humor. Well, I for one can't wait for the Winston Churchill impersonation! I am assuming that what the NRG is testing is the Television Ad Campaign, since the Theatrical Trailers are in theaters already.
It's the low level NRG guy again, and for the past two days we've been
testing four different trailers for Jakob the Liar, the Robin Williams/Alan
Arkin WWII concentration camp flick. The basic premise of it is Robin
Williams plays a member of a jewish concentration camp (along with Liev
Schrieber) and tries to instill hope in his comrades by lying to them and
telling them he has a radio that keeps broadcasting good news that the war's
about to end. Along the way, he picks up an orphan girl. The trailers
didn't play too much into that storyline, in fact, one didn't even mention
it.
There's bound to be a token romantic lead against Williams. Although the
trailers never showed one, the questions kept hinting at it (Would you rather
see Robin Williams in a WWII epic drama or a 1940's Jewish romance? I'm
serious. That was one of the questions). The trailers don't give too much
away, in fact the only one long scene they had was Williams impersonating a
Winston Churchill speach over the radio for the camp workers.
The overall reviews from our respondents have been pretty negative. One
particular line sticks out in my mind "I remember when Robin Williams was
funny, not just trying to make funny dramas." The trailers should be out in
about two weeks, so keep your eyes open and decide for yourself.
Oshwitz
Harry here, and this time we have a look at the film itself from Desslock. This'll spell out a bit better what the film is about. And just for those that didn't know, this is a remake of a 25 year old East German film entitled 'Jakob, der Lügner' which is considered to be quite wonderful in it's own right. Here's Desslock...
Desslock here. I was able to see a working print of Jakob not
too long ago and I figured I'd drop you a line with my impressions. First
off the film is very good, the copy I saw was still rough and missing the
soundtrack but it was still very powerful. First off you should know that
this film is a remake, I haven't seen the original so I can't compare them
but I believe it was an East German film.
The basic story as you know is that Williams is Jakob, a Jewish man
living in the Getto in Poland before they cleaned them all out. Well, one
day he is out accidentally after curfew and is called into the Commandants
office. While there he is able to hear a radio for a brief few minutes that
say the Russians are near. He then tells one friend what he hears and before
long the rumor is that Jakob has a radio (punishable by death) and people
start coming to him for news. He is afraid and doesn't know what to do, so
he goes to see a dear friend only to find out that he has hung himself out of
despair and hopelessness.
Knowing that if people have hope that there might be fewer suicides and
believing that the Russians are infact near he decides to make up news that
will hopefully keep his friends alive to see their liberation. There are
quite a few sub plots going on and one in particular involves Jakob hiding a
little Jewish girl ala Ann Frank. I won't go into all those but the film is
worth seeing. It bears a slight resemblance to Life Is Beautiful but since
it is a remake of another film the reviewers that do their research will come
short of saying it was a rip off of LIB. Also I saw that your trailer review
says that Williams more than likely has a love interest, well this is not the
case at all. When you see the film you will understand why this is. Well
that's all for now, hope this sheds some light on the film for everyone.
Desslock
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Remember Robin Williams when he actually seemed to care? When he made great movies like Moscow On The Hudson (which mixed comedy and drama very well, btw) and Good Morning Vietnam? Why does he make movies like Mrs. Doubtfire and Flubber?
Well, before you lose all hope, remember how great he was in Good Will Hunting? Yeah, he could still do it, if he only wants to. In other words, I can't dismiss this movie outright, without seeing something myself. It could be another Patch Adams performance, or it could be another Good Will Hunting performance. Maybe he's saved enough money or whatever, so he can get back to making quality movies instead of guarateed success movies that pander to the LCD. -
First off, I LIKED Mrs. Doubtfire. A modern star-vehicle comedy that dared to let a little reality rear its ugly head? Shocking! And I adored What Dreams May Come, and thought Good Will Hunting was extremely over-rated (especially Robin's performance, which was basically a third-generation photocopy of his Dead Poets role) so let's not even start a Good Robin/Bad Robin debate. As for Jakob the Liar, the theatrical trailers are directly referencing Life Is Beautiful, so I don't see how they expect to avoid the comparison. And I have no doubt that Jakob will come out second-best there. But there is nothing wrong with the premise itself- all sorts of moral grey areas to play around with. And there is nothing wrong with comedy/drama alloys if they are done correctly- what would you call As Good As It Gets, or LIB, or anything by the Coens? Don't hold Punch Adams (Goddess bless you, Gene) against Robin until we know for sure it's the trend, not the abberation.
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I do have to admit, I could see this film working. If it was a serious drama with Robin being a guy with funny lines and doing sorta funny things, it would work. But they couldn't soften the drama, a la Patch Adams. But if he pulls out enema bulbs, I'm leaving.
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Off the bat, let me say that I loved LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL, one of the best flicks of last year, blah blah blah. One of the reasons LIB worked is because it used the fairy tale first half to load up on the comedy and introduce you to the characters, so when the second half came it wasn't working against itself to be funny. That was part of it's brilliance: watching the main character trying desperately, pitifully to be a clown for his child even when it was clear they were in danger, because it was the only thing he knew how to do. So my one fear with JAKOB THE LIAR is that it will provide an opportunity for Robin Williams to do his schtick. To be fair, Willaims is generally a serious actor and I am sure he did not accept this material lightly. But his "serious" films are all based on this stock unconventional character shtick: the unconventional DJ in Vietnam despised by the establishment, the unconventional private school teacher hated by the establishment, the unconventional cancer specialist hated by the establishment . . . If he tries to play that in JAKOB, I think he's going to run into trouble. Is he supposed to be the unconventional Jew? They'd need some pretty good explanation for why he wasn't just shot. It'll be a tricky role for Williams to pull off, but I hope he can do it without making it insultingly unrealistic or absurdly sappy.
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ok, it might not be a textbook "Life is Beautiful" ripoff but it is taking advantage of LIB's success. Remaking a film that preceeds LIB is just a thinly veiled justification. They're still out to capitalize on this very strange "lets-feel-good-about-the-holocaust" trend. Even Spielberg had that feelgood ending with the Schindler jews laying stones on Oscar's grave. How many people died in Schindlers List that the audience really cared about. What he chose not to show was the down and out Schindler who harrassed the jews he saved for money after the war. The holocaust is not something we should be smiling, chuckling, or feeling good about. Make an honest film about the holocaust -- give us characters we grow to care about, then kill them all off. That was what it was all about. Not this ray of hope moneymaking robinwilliams horseshit..
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One of the testing geeks snagged me at the multiplex this weekend, right before I saw "Sixth Sense" (which is terrific, BTW). I thought the trailer for "Jakob the Liar" was appalling -- Robin Williams in full "funny voice" mode half the time, with the other half of the time showing him in "watery eyes, solid jaw, looking firmly at something offscreen with clenched fists, while the camera swirls around him." Gag me. And lots of gratuitous shots of the cute kid looking up at him with saucer eyes. I didn't know about this being a remake of a decades-old German film, but that doesn't mean the decision to go with the remake in the wake of the success of "Life is Beautiful" makes this any less of a bald-faced ripoff. I hope this movie slips in its own dogshit and falls on its ass. There are plenty of fine original scripts floating around. Knock off with the recycling, already.
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Damn it, people! What the hell is wrong with you? How can you be so sure this film is gonna suck when there really is no indication that it does. I mean, Harry just posted a positive review. Are you really gonna go by the trailer. If I had gone by the trailer, I would think Iron Giant was the worst movie ever made. Comedian or not, Robin Willainms can act.
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My cynical rant above had nothing to do with the actual film but with a disturbing trend in pop film to feel-good-ize the reality of the holocaust. I don't have anything against Robin Williams the actor, but Robin Williams the icon is starting to get on my nerves. Alot of his films are nothing but vehicles for his image. Read the earlier post about the trailer. It sounds like a cliche. This movie may be great, but I have a sinking feeling that it's just going to be an emotional string-puller with a classic hollywood/williams uplifting, heart warming ending that the audiences (the executives believe) love so.
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The film is based first and foremost of a novel of the same name JAKOB THE LIAR which is highly regarded as a humanistic piece of literature and has been recognized by multiple awards. As far as the film (the new one) is concerned, I must point out that this project was looooong gestating before LIB was a foreign darling. The director was developing it in France with Michelle picolli about 6 years ago, and it started to gain momentum 3 years ago as Williams became interested. He shot it after Patch Adams and its release was delayed in light of the LIB hoopla. so there, those are a few extra facts for you to ponder.
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Hey, didn't Roberto already make this film? Come on man! Jesus, I'll see it, rental, only because Arkin is in it.
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That's a degenerative condition of the human brain, and Robin Williams has contracted it ( Break out the funny red noses; laughter is the best medicine! ) I saw The Sixth Sense today -- I would have been better off browsing the Spirituality section in Brentanos for two hours, by the way -- and before the dreadful, syrupy feature film began, I had to sit through two dreadful, syrupy previews: Jakob the Liar and Bringing out the Dead. Williams makes me physically ill just to look at now; I don't think I've ever hated another human being with such quivering intensity. I simply cannot tolerate one more movie in which he puts Visine in his eyes and simpers with disingenuous Weltschmerz. Someone get this guy some cocaine, stat! Nicolas Cage is going down the same route -- Hell Ave., paved with good intentions -- and he's taking Martin Scorsese right along with him. I have a friend, no genius, who came back from Face / Off and nailed Cage perfectly: "That guy has a really lame way of trying to get across emotion." And how. Sometime right after he won his precious-s-s-s Oscar, he developed a "technique" of jutting out his underlip, hunching his shoulders, and talking in a reedy, puling voice whenever his character is feeling blue. Which is always. Of course Cage's disgustingly insincere lachrymosity appeals to the kind of middle-aged women who make schmaltz like City of Angels successful, and hence has made him more popular than ever. This is a guy who used to give one brilliant, intuitive, SCARY performance after another, in flawed, fascinating movies like Vampire's Kiss and Wild at Heart. It's dismaying to watch. -
First off, Desslock, you can't have two "first off"s in the same paragraph. Second, to the dubiously named Oshwitz I would say that Holocaust victims would probably not prefer to be called "members" of concentration camps. They're not something you join voluntarily. Tertiarily, to all of you who would deride this film as a "Life is Beautiful" knock-off, I would say learn a little film history. This is a "Jakob, der Lugner" knock-off. And finally, to SSZero, whose opinions I usually respect, since when do comedy and drama not mix well? Did you ever see "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"? Or "Pulp Fiction"? Or "Amadeus"? That last one starred Pinto from "Animal House", you might recall.
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Aug 10, 1999 8:09:22 AM CDT
Robin Williams needs a tranquilizer dart shot right into his nec
by tl7270
Boy am I sick of this guy and his feeble attempts at "dramedy". He is number one on my list of "actors" who should burn their SAG cards and give the movie loving public a break from their tired routines. You can throw Nicholas Cage, Arnold, Bruce, Travolta and anyone from "Friends" on to that list as well.
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When Jakob was completed, they didn't even start to shoot Life...
The film was held back because of William's Oscar, this is an example of absolute mistiming
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And by the way principal photography was completed in October of 1997, before Patch Adams.
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This movie was made before Life is Beautiful.
But Robin Williams never stops working and has a 3 month break between every movie.
This movie was waiting to come out since the beggining of last year, then LIB came out and columbia hav been holding it back until life has been released on video.
So really life is beautiful is a copy of jakob the liar.
this is also based on a book that has Peter Kasovitz (director of Jakob) has been developing for the last 8 years.
Get it right this is not robin williams doing life is beautiful it is bad timing
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