Hey, everyone. Capone in Chicago here, just back from a whirlwind weekend in New York City, a place that I love (and used to live back in the early '90s).
This was my first trip back there since September 11, 2001, thus it was my first time taking the E train from my hotel near Times Square to Ground Zero. Although the site now looks like many other big-city construction sites, the signage and constant stream of people walking around the big hole in the ground tell a different story.
It was strictly coincidence that I was visiting the city on the opening weekend of Oliver Stone's World Trade Center, but I suspect the interest level in that film upped the number of tourist and locals at the site. I missed being a New Yorker for one weekend, and I couldn't help but wonder how I might have been a different person had I lived in the city five years ago and how my emotional state might have been altered. The new ensemble work The Great New Wonderful shines a little light on the city's post-9/11 collective mindset.
This uneven, but still effective ensemble piece puts forth the reasonable theory that in the year after September 11, New Yorkers lived in a state of constant anxiety and uncertainty, not just about their safety but about their lives. Any critic that calls this film a New York-style Crash is being regrettably lazy and just plain wrong. First off, these five stories of ordinary New Yorkers never intersect. Second, the film is completely void of any sentimentality, which isn’t to say it is without emotion; it has loads of emotion, much of it misdirected and unexpected.
I’m fairly certain that playwright (and sometime actor) Sam Catlin doesn’t want you to like all of his characters. He reminds us that before and after September 11, New York had its fair share of unpleasant people, and maybe one or two assholes. If memory serves, the attacks on New York are never specifically mentioned in The Great New Wonderful. In fact, we don’t even get a sense that the World Trade Center disaster had any direct impact on any of the characters. The only clue we get that this film is connected to those events is an opening title card that the date is September 11, 2002. But context is everything.
In the firststory, the absolutely wonderful Jim Gaffigan endures a barrage of probing questions by an aggressive psychologist (Tony Shalhoub), who is attempting to unleash what he believes is suppressed rage inside Gaffigan a year after he has seen some sort of killing in his office. Gaffigan appears to be perfectly healthy and well tempered, even seeming a little embarrassed at being in front of the shrink at all, but eventually something rises to the surface (whether it is extracted or sparked by the psychologist’s persistent questions is unclear; either way it’s funny).
Avi and Satish (Naseerudin Shah and Sharat Saxena) are professional bodyguards and fellow immigrants, who live in a country that has been very good to them. Although it is never expressly mentioned, we guess that their Middle Eastern accents and looks have not been their best friends in the past year, and these long-time pals quarrel about their changing fundamental beliefs in being proud Americans. Their interactions are probably my favorite because they never quite do or say what you’d expect, as the provide security to a largely unseen political leader.
Maggie Gyllenhaal (in her second appearance in a 9/11-related film this season) plays Emme, the owner of an up-and-coming pastry business called The Great New Wonderful, catering to the city’s upper crust. Her only competition is the long-established queen of the cake business, Safarah (Edie Falco), whom Emme is determined to unseat with a major birthday cake pitch to a society princess. Emme is one of those characters we are not supposed to like, but whose life and outlook has changed in the last year. She is ruthless and often unpleasant to those who care the most for her. It’s a bold performance for Gyllenhaal, and maybe the film’s best acting and most tragic profile.
The story that may make viewers the uneasiest is the seemingly harmless tale of Allison and David (the never-sexier Judy Greer and Tom McCarthy), whose 10-year-old son is a nightmare that they seem unwilling to do anything about. The extremely affectionate couple sees their marriage at risk thanks to the self-centered, monstrous actions of their son. The problem really lies in the fact that they are afraid to discipline him, but when his school principal (Stephen Colbert, playing it straight for the most part) lets slip his normally placid and easy-going demeanor to tell them the truth about their son, it’s a real eye opener (and provides Colbert with the film's best line concerning the nature of the son's heart). The resolution of this storyline is going to bother a whole lot of people, and I’m pretty sure that’s the intention. It’s not violent or evil, and yet a part of what the parents do feels wrong (a part feels right, too, which is why it’s so troublesome).
Finally, in the film’s most conventional but still pleasant plot, Olympia Dukakis plays an elderly woman caught up and fed up with the routine that has become her life (which includes feeding her ungrateful and untalkative husband). She runs into a man from her childhood, who seems more alive than she’s felt in years, and it sparks a passion in her that she is totally unprepared for, and it frightens and excites her. And believe me, Olympia Dukakis in an excited state was almost too much for me.
I’ve kept this last bit of information for the end (like I said, context is everything). The film is directed by Danny Leiner, best known for his work on Dude, Where’s My Car? and Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, and needless to say there isn’t a trace of those films in The Great New Wonderful. That may also explain why this film is getting such a spotty release across the country (in Chicago it’s opening this Friday at the Gene Siskel Film Center for a one-week run). I found myself doing a lot of cringing during this movie, most times for the right reasons, but occasionally because some aspect of one story or another just wasn’t working.
The film is at its strongest when a character's repressed pain and suffering bubble to the surface. Often times, the characters catch themselves when they are behaving badly (at least compared to how they were more than a year ago). Sometimes, they adjust their behavior; sometimes the harder edge remains firmly in place. Unlike Crash, The Great New Wonderful doesn’t concern itself with the redemptive power of the human spirit. It acknowledges the soul’s countless flaws and embraces them, whether we, the audience, choose to or not. The impact of this work will vary greatly from person to person, but overall, it’s a bold work filled with exceptional performances and some brave storytelling.
Capone
