We initially met Edward Norton about 10 years ago via his
wily portrayal of Primal Fear‘s
murderous altar boy, a performance which earned him his first Oscar nomination.
Since then he’s played everything from a lawyer to a priest to a neo-Nazi, but
his most recent film work (besides a masked appearance in last year’s Kingdom of Heaven)
was in 2003’s The Italian Job, a role
he actually tried like hell to get out of. So Norton took a couple years off to
conquer the full-contact Yahtzee circuit — OK, I
don’t know how he spent his time. My point is that Edward Norton is back,
causing problematic movies to seem less so.
Our first glimpse of Norton in David Jacobson’s modern-day
Western Down in the Valley is as he’s traversing an overpass,
wide-brimmed hat on head, bedroll on back, and lasso on hip. He plays Harlan
Fairfax Carruthers, a former ranch hand now pumping
gas in the San Fernando Valley, whose head is
turned by Tobe (Evan Rachel Wood, The Upside of Anger), a beautiful
teenager on her way to the beach. The reticent cowboy and the scrawny firebrand
enjoy an instant connection, and it isn’t long before grainy sand gives way to
fluffy sheets, or before Tobe’s overbearing
stepfather Wade (David Morse, 16 Blocks)
is disapproving of her new romance.
If Harlan seems too good to be true, with his grandly
romantic gestures and respectful down-home behavior, then… well… you know.
After the idyllic whirlwind, Harlan’s true colors begin to bleed through as he
encounters increasing resistance from lawman Wade. But by this point Tobe’s lonely little brother Lonnie (Rory Culkin, Signs) is
thoroughly under Harlan’s sweet spell, clinging to a father figure who actually
seems to want to spend time with him (and who teaches him how to shoot guns). A
jarringly violent deed kicks Valley‘s
third act into motion, leading to vindication for some, disillusion for others,
and heavy-handed symbolism for all.
Valley‘s
sun-bleached patina and leisurely storytelling style bring to mind the ’70s
flicks of Terrence Malick or the Me Decade throwbacks
of David Gordon Green, most likely due to Enrique Chediak’s
evocative cinematography (dig that brilliant chase interlude in the dark),
moody tunes from the likes of Calexico, and the mysterious drifter plot. But
writer-director Jacobson’s characters are largely unsympathetic (with the
exception of the innocent Lonnie), and while his decision to withhold key
details is not an actual crime, Jacobson may lose some viewers who need
concrete reasons to care, as well as those distracted by Norton’s vanishing
mustache.
Not surprisingly, however, Valley is still quite watchable, and
that’s because of Norton. He works his usual magic in a role that, like Primal Fear, calls for the character to
do some acting himself in order to hide his true nature. Morse and Wood do what
they can with their rather one-dimensional parts (and that’s a completely
wasted Elizabeth Peรฑa as Wade’s ladyfriend),
while Rory Culkin demonstrates why he is the most
gifted Culkin yet. Incidentally, are they still
making Culkins? They’re so close to perfecting them.
Most of
writer-director JiaZhangke’sThe World takes place at one of
those theme parks that features “famous sights from five continents for your
pleasure.” People work, play, come together, break up, and set themselves on
fire with the EiffelTower, Big Ben or an unscathed Manhattan
skyline in the Beijing
background. It all sounds rather cosmopolitan, but realities can be harsh even
in a place that traffics exclusively in illusion.
The World focuses
on the relationship between a dancer named Tao and her security guard boyfriend
Taisheng, as well as what happens when the actual
world, in the form of Russian performers, arrives at the park. Tao faces her
past while coping with the present and planning for a future beyond her usual
borders, while Taisheng, who seems to be content with
this insularity, is forced to look beyond his immediate surroundings when he
meets a sophisticated costume designer and deals with family tragedy.
The camera work alternates between dizzying handheld veritรฉ and still long takes (and Jia
uses animation to illustrate the reception of text messages — why not?), but
the thoughtful pacing of The World may be too slow and deliberate for those who require constant action and
reaction. Jonathan Rosenbaum, prominent film critic and author of Movies as Politics, calls the
35-year-old Jia “the most talented director, and one
of the most respected, in mainland China,” and Rosenbaum will be on
hand to introduce The World and
facilitate an audience discussion following the screening.
Down in the Valley (R), directed by David Jacobson, opens
Friday, June 16, at the Little Theatres | The World (NR), directed by JiaZhangke, shows Friday, June
16, at the George Eastman House’s Dryden Theatre, 8 p.m.
This article appears in Jun 14-20, 2006.
