Hey folks, Harry here. I'm dying to see Bill Paxton's FRAILTY. Moriarty first told me about it an eon ago it seems, but that lumbering toothpick has been detained by a nearly withered LeStrade recently and hasn't followed through.... Sadly... As for DEVIL'S BACKBONE, right now it has a perfect run of positives over on ROTTEN TOMATOES... Amazing... Here's another...
Howdy, Harry...
Thought I'd write in with two advance reviews, one of a film that has already been covered extensively on this site, and one that hasn't but should be.
I'll start with that one.
Bill Paxton's directorial debut 'Frailty' opens on a cloudy night in Dallas. An FBI agent (Powers Booth), working late in an office filled with gruesome crime scene photos, is paid a visit by a strange man who introduces himself as Fenton Meeks (Matthew Maconahey). He explains that he knows who the God's Hands killer is.
The God's Hands killer, we quickly learn, is the cause for all those unpleasant photos the agent has in his office. He's a serial killer who has proven to be remarkably evasive, and although the agent is skeptical of Fenton's admonition, it's at least something. When Fenton admits that the killer is his brother, his intrigue increases, and he lets Fenton tell his story. And thus we enter the flashback that takes up the majority of the film.
To delve into what follows wouldn't be fair; the story is built so well that to let in on any developments would really detract from a truly unsettling moviegoing experience. It's a thriller, and a horror film, and it's the best kind of both of these. It fills us with absolute unease; we realize what is going to happen at certain points, and the dread builds and builds and builds to nearly unbearable levels until what we've been waiting for actually happens and it is still shocking enough to scare us.
Some people really don't like Bill Paxton as an actor, and his role in this film probably won't change their opinion; I personally like him, and thought that this was one of his best performances. But even his detractors can't deny the talent he shows in telling this story. He doesn't go for flashy stylistic devices or lurid shocks; he lets the subject matter do all the work, showing just enough at just the right times. There are some truly disturbing moments, particularly involving the two young actors (Matt O'Leary and Jeremy Sumpter) who play Paxton's sons. They are made to do some really upsetting things. There is one particular shot, involving the younger of the two boys, that made the entire audience scream aloud. Another scene, where the boys watch 'Davey and Goliath,' is almost as disturbing in a completely different way.
This is a tough story, and it could easily have crossed into camp or bad taste, but Paxton keeps it right on the edge, and in doing so keeps us on edge throughout most of the film as well. At just past the two-thirds mark, the story falls prey to predictability; it loses the air of mystery that added so much intensity to the beginning. Yeah, it's upsetting, but only because it's so unsatisfying. This is the kind of story that doesn't need to be wrapped up nice and tidy; a touch of ambiguity would have made all the difference.
The limp conclusion prevents the movie from being really great, but it is easily overshadowed be the powerhouse filmmaking that came before it. It's been a while since a really scary film came out -- not the jump out of your seat kind of scary, but the kind of scary that slowly digs it's way into you; 'Frailty' may give up towards the end, but before it does it digs almost as far as a film can get.
Note: the title is fairly pointless. It really has nothing to do with the story, as Paxton revealed at the screening; the screenwriter felt that its chances of being sold were fairly frail, and named the script thusly. It would have been wise to retitle it, but oh well, too late now.
The other screening I saw was of....'The Devil's Backbone.'
Guillermo Del Toro has made it clear that he doesn't consider 'The Devil's Backbone' a ghost story. To be sure, it is a story filled to the brim with thematic elements: loss of innocence, war, hidden treasure, just to name a few. But first and foremost, I think, is the ghost story. And it is a good one.
The story takes place during the Spanish Civil War. It is told through the eyes of Carlos (Fernando Tielve), a young boy who at the beginning of the film is left at an orphanage in the desert, unware that his father has been killed in the rebel cause.
The orphanage is a melancholy place, its pent up sadness represented in the striking image of a massive bomb that is embedded in the courtyard, having never exploded. The place is run by an old doctor and his one-legged wife. They can barely afford to feed their young charges, surviving only on a secret stash of gold hidden in the kitchen. The boys, most of them under the age of ten, deal with their unahppy lot with admirable optimism. When Carlos arrives with a suitcase full of comic books and toys, they treat him with a mixture of wariness and excitement; they put him through a bit of hazing, but for the most part they seem excited to have a new friend.
Carlos quickly learns the ropes; he learns not to leave his room at night, or to cross the path of the caretaker, a bitter young man who grew up at the orphanage but never left (and is caretaker of more than just the school, it turns out); he learns that a boy named Santi disappeared the night the bomb fell; and he learns firsthand about The One Who Sighs, a ghost who first appeared soon after that fateful night. All the boys have heard him, but Carlos is the first to see him.
The scenes with the ghost are done so well that they almost overshadow the rest of the film. They are scary, sometimes terrifying; they'd be fun as well, if the ghost wasn't so sad. We see him pretty early on, and he is a tribute to the power of subtle makeup and digital effects. I don't want to spoil him; I will say, though, that the director of '13 Ghosts' would do well to watch this movie.
The ghost tells Carlos that "many of you will die." The culimination of this cryptic prophecy ties into the may other threads that spin together towards a denoument that is hard and cruel, but true. The tone of the story is reminiscent of both 'Tom Sawyer' and 'Lord Of The Flies,' but, as a whole, it reminds me most of the magical realism of Gabrie Garcia Marquez, where the occasional supernatural happenings are hardly blinked at in the harsh light of reality.
My sole fault with the film is that I think it falls short, that it is missing once crucial beat at the end. Maybe it was too obvious a conclusion, or maybe there is a subtext that I am missing. But one of the themes of the film is that things which appear to be dead are not always so, and this could have been driven home with great power and emotion in just a few seconds before the credits roll; but it doesn't, and we are left with a sad and wonderful story that is still nearly perfect.
That's it for this time. Remember, for more in-depth reviews, and to support independent film, be sure to visit www.road-dog-productions.com. And maybe someday soon, Massawyrm will post a review or two of some of my films...hint hint...: )
--Ghostboy
