Hey folks, Harry here with Segue Zagnut's sublime review of what is sounding more and more like a truly great film. Let's hope. Personally, I've been a fan of Crowe's work since I was a kid, and feel that with each film he gets better. This film sounds amazing. Check it out...
This is Segue Zagnut and I have had a string of bad luck at the theater recently. M2M.. did it really have to be that bad? The Whole Nine Yards.. please, I like Perry.. but can someone give him a role.. Please? Reindeer Games... The Next Best Thing.. another Scream.. need I go on. 2000 has been quickly shaping up as a good year to rent movies from 1999. But we know the future is brighter. Gladiator rocked. Titan A.E. is a blast (review coming soon). And now we have Untitled.
Cameron Crowe's UNTITLED is a call to arms for fans, a wake up call to the entertainment reporting establishment and an inspiration for all who wish to create. Also, did I mention.. UNTITLED is brilliant.
The story follows William (played by Patrick Fugit) as he tries to chronicle and interview an up and coming band fast on the track to mega-stardom during their "Almost Famous" tour opening for Black Sabbath. This is the 70's and tired old classic rock.. well... it wasn't just not classic yet.. it was the mainstream and the antistream all at once... it was just ROCK. William is a fan who wants to write about what he loves. He wants to worship it. He wants to critique it and help it grow. And he wants to be a part of it. William is not an entertainment reporter who doesn't know anything about the art of music. He knows what's good and what's bad because this is his life. He is an average guy who's art is writing. Oh and he is 15. One can only assume that much of the story is based on Crowe's real life. Who, at the age of 15, worked for Rolling Stone based solely on ability. Just like in the movie, they thought he was older and, just like in the movie, it turns out he was old enough.
Stillwater is the name of the band, but it doesn't matter... Stillwater is every band. The relationships, the egos, the success, the impatience, the inner turmoil.. this is not cliche. Oh yes we've seen it before, but this lives it. The people are real. The relationships are real. The dialogue is real. Even small characters are three dimensional in ways that only someone who's been there can write. And the actors nail it.
Jason Lee who most people know from Kevin Smith films has never really impressed me as an actor. He has presence, but his appeal has frequently felt forced. Not true here, he is excellent. Rock star, musician, performer and lead singer he is supposed to be the star, but he isn't. Instead he is runner up to the driving force behind the band, Russell (played by Billy Crudup). The chemistry between Jason and Billy is perfect. The script and the director (both Crowe) give these two room to communicate with body language and eye contact, instead of exposition. As an example, there is an important scene in an airplane, where Jason reveals something that I had no idea was coming, yet I instantly knew it was true. The chemistry sold it.
Billy Crudup is flawless. Crowe gives better detail and character to this fictional rock star, then I think Stone gave Morrison in the Doors. This is a real guy. He's got an ego, but he doesn't. He's an ass, but he isn't. His relationship with the band, his groupies, and William all have depth that make him both a villain and a hero. The reason it works is because it all comes back to reality. This is a real band. This is every band.
All that said... the movie isn't about the band. It really centers around William and his relationship to Penny Lane. Penny Lane (played by Kate Hudson) is a band-aid as she puts it, a groupie as the band puts it, and the ultimate fan as William puts it. She worships the band not because they are famous, or rock stars, or look good... but because they write great music. She LOVES the music. It drives her and she loves the creator of it. William falls for her immediately. He respects her and treats her right. He tries to protect her and help her. He loves her. She loves him. But they both love Stillwater.
Honestly, Hudson is amazing. Last year I reviewed the as yet unreleased piece of crap named Gossip that she also stars in. This movie is further proof of how bad that movie was. Hudson stars in Gossip and she and the movie are forgettable. There is no way you will forget Hudson in Untitled. Her performance with William is understated and touching. The relationship drops some of the syrup of Jerry Maguire without cutting depth. When she is with the band or Crudup specifically, we understand her. When the band calls her just a groupie you want to yell out... fuck off.. because we understand her. Also, she is beautiful. No, I mean BEAUTIFUL. (And, yes she does get naked.)
Patrick Fugit is a solid actor to build this movie around. He gets the awkwardness on 15, while maintaining the believability that anyone would take him seriously. His is also the character that grounds the film. As we watch him grow and learn, we grow and learn. The supporting players are all strong, with Frances McDormand as William's mom shining brightest. Philip Seymour Hoffman in what is a glorified cameo plays Lester Bangs and it is great. Crowe gives credit for some of the best lines to Hoffman, including a great speech on why he and William will never be cool. Did I mention, Lester Bangs in this movie is really cool.
The real hero of this film is Crowe. This film is about art vs. business... fan vs. critic... creator vs. fan vs critic. This is the whole artistic pie not just a piece. It has an amazingly anti-establishment message centered around characters that all want to make it in the establishment. This is a call to arms to accurate reporting for entertainment. By this token, this movie is about AICN also. William is me. He is Moriarty.. Harry... etc. He is the little guy trying to get by on opinion and talent, not pedigree or traditionalism. A real critic/reporter wants to recognize and encourage the great and identify and slam the worthless.
Penny Lane represents unconditional fans. The bands loves her and courts her, but when it counts.. she doesn't. Even though the band constantly proclaims they do it for the fans, reality shows the fans get the shaft too often in a publicity control business of corporate art. Whether it is William or Penny, both only get to say or be what the establishment wants. And the establishment only wants truth if it is good news. Oh yes, the corporation putting out this film will love me today, but if I had hated it... well, we know how they feel about that.
If Jerry Maguire's message was live from the heart, then this shows you why.
Consider This.. Segue Zagnut
Then there is this... rather strange weird insightful review of UNTITLED
Mr. Knowles
I understand that You can, shall we say, reach Mr. Cameron Crowe; therefore, I wish that You would relay to him my congratulations and thanks for the creation of his newest film, "Untitled". And the brief remarks that follow:
* The message of the film is clearly communicated; that 'art will ultimately and inevitably prevail over industry' is successfully presented because the film is talentedly artistic.
* The central character, William, is believably portrayed by an obviously skilled young actor. The audience will do well to follow his career.
* Drug use was neither gratuitous nor villified; compliments on the film's artism are warranted here, as the story omits such common pro-establishment messages as either of these would imply. (A lapse does occur for one line when the pinnacle of a pivotal scene is sold for laughs as a gay-joke.)
* I am curious what may become of the nudity after the film undergoes the'beta-test' audience. Its briefness inclines me to wonder if the production company will twist our dear Mr. Crowe's arm to enact changes here. (Of course, the entirety of the movie is vulnerable to this coercion, and it would be a tragic and fittingly ironic event should any of the movie be axed by corporate demand; with history as an indicator, we should anticipate that 'Rolling Stone' of the 'real' world will try to tamper for more profits, and consumers should, therefore, always subsidize the director's cut of a film, when released.)
* The characters are multi-dimensional, possible, and likable. This, obviously, reflects good writing--again, acclaim for Mr. Crowe. It may be that the autobiographical model of the story here contributes to the richness and dynamicness of the characters.
* The music is very good; we shall never tire of Led Zeppelin--this is another example of the movie's central theme of art persevering.
* The special effects are facial expressions and cinematography that captures them: the acting is profound and requires equally competent writing and directing to enable it.
Science and Art are the shaping fundamentals of Society. Industry takes what these give it. Industry tries to form this energy-product into something profitable, socializing. It is successful to the degree that we see concrete around us, but we release the impermanence of these illusions with every new piece of information, evolutionary step, achievement, creation. Audiences have heartily supported anti-establishment messages that have come from Art, particularly film, in very recent times. Art is a proactive creation and reflection of Society's will, and contemporary Art espouses freedom, revolution, enlightenment ("The Matrix", "Fight Club", "American Beauty", etc.). Science's influence is more passive but has already begun a rumbling convergence with Eastern philosophical principles and farther diverges from mechanistic, artificial roles of Western Industry.
Science and Art are ideas and are non-temporary; Industry's grasp at them is but a ripple on a pond, constrained by the inherent freedom of Society to no longer recognize the asserted value of its puppet-leaders' symbols. With the name "Untitled" the film defies Industry and represents another proactive, revolutionary step, daring the test-audiences' admiration to be skewed into a command for, as you say, a 'Hollywood' ending; the film defies a corporate-donated label, instead focusing on personal discovery--the course each of us will necessarily take as our awareness expands and we eventually shed the fake-prop hand-cuffs about our wrists and minds.
Sincerely,
Chen Shui-bian,
President-elect of Taiwan, R.O.C.
