Drama

Film

While walking in a junkyard, a character says, “This place has a lot of treasures.” That statement could also be used to describe one of the many powerful scenes that are treasures in this film. Not that this film is anything close to a junkyard. Nominated for a few Independent Spirit Awards in major categories, Tully is a moving film that uses several wonderfully understated performances to tell its story about a troubled family.

I’ve found a new crime genre: New Orleans noir. I’ve seen a few of these in the past month. The films seem to be about the flawed people of Louisiana (the Pelican State, by the way) and center around steamy murders and love affairs. All made with a certain bayou charm. Tempted is another movie that fits this pattern. It has all the makings of a guilty pleasure.

Tempted stars, Stroker Ace himself, Burt Reynolds as a well known New Orleans business magnate who hires a young stud employee (...eter Facinelli) to sleep with his wife (Saffron Burrow) for a lot of cash. Facinelli has moral qualms, of course, but he is a struggling law student. Why the hell not. Would you do it? Would I? That’s for me to know and for you to find out. Complications arise… seductions, twists, death… you know the deal. It’s all been done before and seems vaguely familiar to Body Heat with Kathleen Turner. Tempted is B movie trash. But the good news is that the movie is not afraid to admit it. I like the honesty.

Angels Don’t Sleep Here is the stuff of crime melodrama: long forgotten murders, revenge, twin brothers, and corrupt public officials. It’s a mild foray into the genre. The film knows the notes but not the music; but the actors, or the instruments, (if we continue the music metaphor) really save the day.

Dana Ashbrook (from Twin Peaks) plays a forensic specialist who returns to an unnamed city to start poking around about his long lost twin brother. The trail leads to a DA (Kelly Rutherford)... who later becomes Ashbrook’s lover. The trail also leads to corrupt cops and politicians (played by Robert Patrick and Roy Scheider, respectively). The strength of the film is the acting. Both Ashbrook and Rutherford play it very straight and very natural. A more “over the top” acting style would’ve made the movie, with its “over the top” subject matter, unbearable to watch. Patrick has seen better days. I kept waiting for him to turn into liquid metal. But he’s fine here. And Roy Scheider... What has happened to you? You were Popeye Doyle’s partner in the The French Connection... you were Joe Gideon in the fantastic All That Jazz… and you were the perfect everyman, Sheriff Brody in Jaws. You just look tired here, as if saying “why can’t I get any good scripts”. Note to Tarantino, if you’re looking at a comeback for an actor…writer a part for Scheider, okay?

Warning: Do not be taken in by the cover of this DVD. With iron gates, murky lighting, and a creepy stone angel, Lush has the appearance of a gothic horror film. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Lush is one of those quirky crime dramas. You know the ones I mean…eccentric characters, a unique soundtrack, off kilter comedy scenes, and a murder plot. The Coen Brothers have made an art out of this kind of film. Lush tries really hard to make inroads into the genre.

The story ...akes place in the “Big Easy” and involves an ex-con (Campbell Scott), who likes to golf, and gets involved in a murder plot involving a repressed, depressed lawyer (Jared Harris). The story is told, at times, in flashbacks. Scott becomes embroiled, in crime noir style, in a “world of ****”. The solution to the puzzle, of course, is all a big con. Who’s conning whom….yadda yadda yadda. The problem with the story telling is that we’re never really quite sure what’s going on. There’s a lack of narrative clarity, which is really important in a crime film.