John Doe writes in with the following report on a very early test screening of Director Ang Lee's next motion picture RIDE WITH THE DEVIL. Despite it's rough state Doe clearly is excited about this film. I'll let him explain why...
I'm a long time reader and first time contributor, and I'd like to hip you to what may be the movie of the year: Director Ang Lee and screenwriter James Shamus' "Ride With the Devil." These guys made the best small movie of last year, "The Ice Storm." (In case you care, as far as I'm concerned "Starship Troopers" was the best big movie.)
It screened just last night. Please note that I arrived just as the lights were dimming and I missed NRG's warnings and disclaimers but I'm pretty certain that this was the first test screening. There was little music, most of it apparently temp stuff; fades, dissolves and titles were clearly missing; the color-timing has yet to correct some problem lighting. At 160 minutes it clearly could use some trimming--but I believe "The Ice Storm" came in originally at about the same time, so there's no doubt that they're going to tighten it quite a bit.
I won't lie, there were a lot of walkouts, including two strange moments when ten-or-so people around the theater all simultaneously left. I found it deeply ironic that a great number of the walkouts were black; here is a film in part about the impossibility of freedom for blacks only 130 years ago--perhaps the most poignantly-woven theme in the picture. I guess people really don't have any sense of history or respect anymore.
The problem, if there is a problem, is that the movie takes on such a huge story--of "Bushwhackers," confederate guerrilla fighters who through the course of the film lose everything to senseless violence. Unless the filmmakers find some way to educate the public with pre-release PR, the first act will probably need a little more to explain what's going on. People seemed a little lost at the beginning. I also missed the meaning of the title, but then I did go to the bathroom once.
Just about everything else was perfect, or will be perfect. The cast--Tobey Maguire, Jeffery Wright, and even Jewel--is excellent. Of the leads, only Skeet Ulrich is less than first-rate, but even he has his moments. The screenplay actually manages to earn a number of great, uncomfortable laughs in the darkest moments--for some reason Tarantino came to mind. But I want to stress that this is a movie that never panders, and I trust that the producers / studio will leave it be. Ang Lee rarely moves the camera; the effect becomes unsettling at times. Basically it fits with the rest of his films, all of them cerebral to a fault. The violence is sloppy in the style of Peckinpah without slow-motion, that is to say, it's quite realistic. Tobey Maguire sports the ugliest facial hair since Sam Jackson in "Jackie Brown," and Pitt, the 'villain' of the piece (sorry, I can't remember the actor's name) is every bit as menacing as Jackson was in that film. The final scene is as tense a moment as you could hope to see in a film.
At the end there was some applause. Lee and Shamus' poker faces were hard to read, but they must realize how good their picture is even if some of the audience did not.
I hope this disturbs your wooden spoon readers when I say this, but "Saving Private Ryan" is not only not the best film of the year, it's not even the best war film of the year--that would be "Ride With the Devil."
Sorry if this is too long, and you can call me John Doe.
Best wishes, and thanks for the page.
John Doe
