Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a new spy deep inside Park City who calls himself Nately. He's got another viewpoint on two films that have gotten a lot of press already (BRICK and LAYER CAKE) and one that hasn't been talked about much. Now, after reading this about THE MATADOR... it seems to confirm word I got about this being a major step up for Pierce Brosnan. I can't wait to see him shine again, shruggin off the stink of Bond just a little bit more. Anyway, on with Nately!
Harry,
I've never submitted a review before but I was lucky enough to snag tickets to Sundance this year so I figured I'd share my thoughts on what I saw. A couple of these movies have already been reviewed on AICN so I'll keep those brief.
Layer Cake - 3 out of 5
The plot is too complicated to describe in detail but is basically about a new breed of criminal played by Daniel Craig who is attempting to exit the crime world without ruffling any feathers. Needless to say its easier said than done. As with Lock Stock and Snatch (both were produced by the director) the dialog is slick, the plot is twisting and the characters are eccentric. For me the problem is that the movie is too similar to Lock Stock and Snatch, different plot but same feel. A good movie that doesn't really do anything new.
Brick - 3.5 out of 5
The movie is about a high school loner who single mindedly searches for his missing ex-girlfriend. The director (Rian Johnson) tries to walk the line between an homage to and a parody of film noir by changing the setting and juxtaposing the characters of a classic noir movie. He is successful even though he occasionally slips too far in one direction or the other with the sometimes slick and sometimes clunky dialogue. This is a fun movie but I think it will have a difficult time finding an audience. Its too complicated and nuanced for high schoolers and too over the top for most adults.
Matador - 5 out of 5 (some minor spoilers)
This movie blew my mind. I saw the premier screening right after seeing Layer Cake and I was expecting Matador to be similar. I couldn't have been more wrong.
Julian (Pierce Brosnan) is an aging hit man ("facilitator of fatalities") whose days are filled with killing, drinking and sex (almost exclusively with prostitutes). While on a job in Mexico City he meets Danny (Greg Kinnear), a down on his luck salesman who has lost his son and is almost pathetically nice. Danny, being a nice guy, tries to strike up a drunken conversation with Julian at the hotel bar. A hilarious and offensive conversation ensues and Danny storms off to his room. The next day Julian, in an uncharacteristic move, invites Danny to a bullfight to make amends. At the fight Danny learns that Julian is a hit man. The scene that convinces him that Julian is in fact an assassin is riveting, with Julian picking out a stranger from the crowd and detailing how he would go about "facilitating" his death. Later that day Julian offers Danny $50k to help him with a hit he has to do. Danny initially refuses but Julian comes back that night to ask again. As Julian is pounding on the door begging Danny to help him out the scene ends and we cut to 6 months in the future without knowing what happens that night.
We see Julian lose his edge and botch two hits. His problem is that every time he goes to pull the trigger or jab the knife he sees the target as himself. His clients are understandably upset and his boss, Mr. Stick, wants him dead. Having no friends and no home he shows up on Danny's doorstep in the middle of the night. While Julian's life has been going to shit, Danny's life has been rosy. Danny and his wife Bean (Hope Davis) seem to have come to grips with their son's death 4 yrs prior and have a happy and loving relationship. Danny's home also suggests that he has come into money, either through business or accepting Julian's offer in Mexico. At this point we don't know.
Danny and Bean take Julian's arrival in stride and welcome him into their home. After Bean goes to bed Julian tells Danny about his botched hits and the hit that is out on him. He asks Danny to help him do one last job that will get him out of trouble with Mr. Stick and save his life. After much begging Danny still refuses and Julian ominously declares "You owe me." That convinces Danny that he must help Julian and they're off to Tucson to complete the job. This is where I'm going to stop as the ending contains a plot twist that nobody I saw the movie with came close to guessing.
The brief description from the Sundance website and my summary above don't do justice to the film. The story is interesting but its the characters and their strengths and flaws that make this movie. Pierce Brosnan is amazing playing a character that is the polar opposite of James Bond. It would have been very easy for Julian to be an unlikable character who is as one dimensional as Bond but Brosnan was able to allow the audience to identify with a cold hearted and debaucherous killer. The same can be said of Greg Kinnear's handling of Danny who could easily have come off as a pathetic nice guy. Seeing the transformation that the characters make throughout the film and believing it illustrates how convincing the performances were.
Richard Shepard (writer/director) has crafted a fantastic film with sharp, funny dialogue that adds depth to the characters. Some of Julian's one liners are destined to enter pop-culture (the one that comes to mind is "I wouldn't do that for all the teenage twat in Thailand"). During the post-screening Q&A it came out that upon being contacted by Pierce's production company Richard Shepard initially thought they wanted to buy his Thomas Crown Affair 2 script. Thankfully we got Matador instead of a formulaic sequel.
If you use this you can call me Nately.
PS I will follow up with reviews of The Jacket, Unconscious and Happy Endings soon.
