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Appaloosa (Ed Harris 2008)
This seems to be the year for westerns, what with The Assassination of Blah di Blah and No Country for Old Men and 3.10 to Yuma which I didn't see (although I did see The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. I've never been a huge fan - partly the racial and sexual politics, partly I don't know what. I mean I can appreciate John Ford (I saw My Darling Clementine this year, too) but not enjoy.
Harris rings the chnages on the by the numbers structure - town is terrorised, stranger comes into town, stranger asked for help, stranger reluctantly helps, first and second confrontations with terroriser, terroriser defeated, stranger leaves town. Here the stranger is a double act - Harris and Vigo Mortensen (who I keep not recognising) and Virgil and Everett, who go around getting towns to sign them up as lawmen, presumably making a profit out of the deal somehow. In Appaloosa, Bragg (Jeremy Irons) is terrorising the townsfolk with his dubious accent and Virgil and Everett set up shop.Just to complicate matters, Mrs French (Renée Zellweger) show up and takes a shine to Virgil and seems likely to come between them.
Harris is one of those effortlessly cool actors - he's well paired with Mortensen - who grip you or make you nauseus by turns, and who acts with his legs and hips, as well as being the master of the meaningful, silent look. And the western is nothing but its meaningful looks. And the landscape - which feels wide open here, and there are a couple of extraordinary shots that demand the full width of the screen. He switches between psycho (pistol whipping, knocking teeth out) and shy and retiring, on a sixpence, and has a character gimmick which requires Everett to provide hiom with his next word. He's also happy just to sit and hang out. Mortensen is given less to do (Harris shows off, clearly, but why not?) but he is the focal point of the film. Zellweger has her moments, and invests her part such that it isn't entirely thankless, but she somewhat lacks a back story for suspense reasons which blows a hole in motivation.
I never caught Harris's Pollock (2000) which sounded a vanity project, but here starring (he isn't quite in every shot but a good three quarters of them), directing, co-writing, producing and even singing over the end credits, he is more than impressive. Go see, go rent.
141 (Cinema: 65; DVD: 71; TV: 5)
This seems to be the year for westerns, what with The Assassination of Blah di Blah and No Country for Old Men and 3.10 to Yuma which I didn't see (although I did see The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. I've never been a huge fan - partly the racial and sexual politics, partly I don't know what. I mean I can appreciate John Ford (I saw My Darling Clementine this year, too) but not enjoy.
Harris rings the chnages on the by the numbers structure - town is terrorised, stranger comes into town, stranger asked for help, stranger reluctantly helps, first and second confrontations with terroriser, terroriser defeated, stranger leaves town. Here the stranger is a double act - Harris and Vigo Mortensen (who I keep not recognising) and Virgil and Everett, who go around getting towns to sign them up as lawmen, presumably making a profit out of the deal somehow. In Appaloosa, Bragg (Jeremy Irons) is terrorising the townsfolk with his dubious accent and Virgil and Everett set up shop.Just to complicate matters, Mrs French (Renée Zellweger) show up and takes a shine to Virgil and seems likely to come between them.
Harris is one of those effortlessly cool actors - he's well paired with Mortensen - who grip you or make you nauseus by turns, and who acts with his legs and hips, as well as being the master of the meaningful, silent look. And the western is nothing but its meaningful looks. And the landscape - which feels wide open here, and there are a couple of extraordinary shots that demand the full width of the screen. He switches between psycho (pistol whipping, knocking teeth out) and shy and retiring, on a sixpence, and has a character gimmick which requires Everett to provide hiom with his next word. He's also happy just to sit and hang out. Mortensen is given less to do (Harris shows off, clearly, but why not?) but he is the focal point of the film. Zellweger has her moments, and invests her part such that it isn't entirely thankless, but she somewhat lacks a back story for suspense reasons which blows a hole in motivation.
I never caught Harris's Pollock (2000) which sounded a vanity project, but here starring (he isn't quite in every shot but a good three quarters of them), directing, co-writing, producing and even singing over the end credits, he is more than impressive. Go see, go rent.
141 (Cinema: 65; DVD: 71; TV: 5)
