Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
I talked to Corporal Hicks yesterday, and even though I was sorry not to get to meet him at Harry's booksigning, I was excited to hear what his reaction would be to the new Peter Bogdanovich film that I first wrote about way back in December of the year 2000. There's a sad irony in the fact that pretty much everyone else associated with the site has seen the movie now, and I'm still curious as hell. A glowing review like this only makes it worse for me.
Check it out...
Hey guys,
Hicks here. Harry, congrats on all the book success! I'm sorry I was unable to attend Book Soup last night, for I had a previous engagement with...THE CAT'S MEOW, Peter Bogdanovich's first directing gig for the cinema in nearly 10 years (he's apparently been dabbling in television movies for the last while).
The film concerns the mysterious death of famed Hollywood mogul Thomas Ince, whose fate may have been determined while spending his birthday weekend in 1924 on board newspaper king William Randolph Hearst's 220-foot yacht. On board with Ince and Hearst are a rather diverse slew of Hollywood types, all vying for attention from the master of ceremonies. Now, having said that, I had the opportunity to speak with the film's screenwriter, Steve Peros, after the screening about the accuracy of his script. He tells me that there is no record in existence stating exactly who was on that boat that weekend, but he constructed a guest list from several sources surrounding Hearst, Ince, and even Charlie Chaplin.
The result is a highly engrossing screwball comedy that successfully deconstructs the genre itself by infusing it with an air of darkness and authenticity. The film masterfully paints a portrait of the seediness that lies underneath the top layers of Hollywood's biggest players of old. Bogdanovich creates an ensemble piece that uses the screwball genre as a metaphor for the reality of Hollywood. That is to say that he places a screwball comedy in a real situation, tearing away the glitz and glamour of its creators and exposing their humanity and their vulnerability to the glossy idea of what they represent in the public's eye.
Bogdanovich directs the action very well, constantly making use of the long take to emphasize the reality of the events amidst their nonsense. His compositions are often very tight and focused on the characters rather than on the environments or situations. Not a single inch of his frame is wasted. Bogdanovich also skillfully directs his ensemble troupe of actors in their interactions with one another by using character reactions rather than dialogue or exposition to flesh out important character notes.
Another rather interesting facet to the film is the way Bruno Delbonnel, currently an Academy Award nominee for Amelie, photographs the action. The film uses black-and-white photography as a framing device to create the Hollywood environment of the Silent Movie era, but then transforms into sharp color that let's the actors' faces shine like their glitzy images. The interesting thing is how monochromatic the color image is, though, and how the characters all seem to blend into the background of Hearst's ship, save for their luminiscent faces. Steve Peros also told me that, initally, Bogdanovich had wanted to shoot the entire film in black-and-white, but was unable to garner support from Lion's Gate and their foreign investors, so he opted for, in my opinion, the highly more interesting choice of shooting the film in color, but with all background colors (costumes, sets, etc...) being either black, silver, or white. Also of note is how naturalistic the film is lit; there are many times when the characters are allowed to stand in complete darkness during a shot. Shadows are constantly present and they even hide actors' faces from time to time. The same goes for the film's sound design, which has actors frequently drowned out by the enviroments and noises on the ship, perhaps suggesting that none of the characters are really in as much control of the proceedings as they believe they are.
The cast is exemplary, plain and simple. Kirsten Dunst shows more range than ever as the gorgeous actress, and W. R. Hearst's mistress, Marion Davies. For the first time, she plays a woman, not a girl, and does it with such a muse-like, free-spirited nature that perfectly captures the flawed idealism of the early days of Hollywood. Edward Herrman is quite impressive as Hearst, reconceiving Orson Welles' idea of Charles Foster Kane with the notion that Hearst was not nearly as appealing a character as the young, strapping Kane. The always-great Cary Elwes nails the vulnerability one can have while still at the top as his Thomas Ince is blindly unaware of his effect on other people, creating a character that is both charming and reprehensible almost without knowing it. Joanna Lumley is absolutely fabulous (I know, I couldn't resist) as the story's narrator, famous writer Elinor Glyn, a person who is completely aware of being both charming and reprehensible. She revels in her language as much as she does in herself, all the while recognizing the sheer ridiculous nature of herself and all things on board this floating coffin called the Oneida (which makes her a rather ironic character...just like all writers). Jennifer Tilly is also solid as Louella Parsons, famed Hearst gossip columnist, who is as curious as she is clueless.
Then there is Eddie Izzard. Good God, the man is amazing. He IS a revelation as Charlie Chaplin. He is not imitating, he is creating a character so charmingly lecherous that he steals absolutely every single frame he is in. There is true genius to his performance; it's easily one of the best supporting turns I've ever seen.
The one real flaw I find in THE CAT'S MEOW, however, is its pace. The film almost feels like one really long scene whose tone never really changes. The pace is steady, but almost boring because there never exists a solid tension to the proceedings. Nonetheless, the great cast and clever script make up for this lag because the characters are just so fun to watch you almost don't care that it's not really going anywhere sometimes.
Ultimately, Bogdanovich has crafted a filmlover's film. It is abundantly clear that he loves the history of Hollywood and enjoys showing the audience just how interesting these people were, especially considering how their films have influenced him and many others. THE CAT'S MEOW is quite a film. It's definitely worth checking out.
That is all.
Hicks signing off.
Thanks, man. I may have to reopen that tunnel that Mongo dug under the VARIETY building so I can find a copy of CAT'S MEOW over at Lions Gate for myself. Between that, FRAILTY, and RULES OF ATTRACTION, they look like they've got a great and interesting year ahead of them.
We'll just pretend the AMERICAN PSYCHO 2 thing isn't happening...
"Moriarty" out.
